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A 3httttr* ICtft Smimfitraieh 



OR 



TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS A PUBLIC 
MEDIUM 






By E. W. Sprague, 



THIRTEEN YEARS A MISSIONARY OF THE NA- 
TIONAL SPIRITUALIST ASSOCIATION OF 
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits 
whether they are of God: because many false prophets are 
gone out into the world." — I John, IV Chap., ist Verse. 



Published by 

ELI WILMOT SPRAGUE. 

1908. 






i*.46KARY of CONFESS 
I iwo ttooies rtecawe* 

j OCT 13 W8 



| | II 'I - - 



■ 



Copyright, 1908, 

By E. W. SPRAGUE, 

Detroit, Mich. 



TO MY BELOVED ARISEN PARENTS 

WHO GAVE ME LIFE, 

AND FROM WHOM I INHERITED MY SENSITIVE 
ORGANISM AND MEDIUMISTIC NATURE, 

AND 

TO THE MEMBERS OF MY FAITHFUL SPIRIT 
BAND 

WHO HAVE AIDED ME IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
THESE SACRED SPIRITUAL POWERS, AND WHO 
BY THEIR WISE COUNSEL AND BLESSED IN- 
SPIRATION HAVE TAUGHT ME THE NEW 
LESSONS OF LIFE, AND WHO HAVE AFFIL- 
IATED WITH ME CONSTANTLY THROUGH- 
OUT THESE MANY FRUITFUL YEARS IN 
THE WORK FOR HUMANITY, FULFILL- 
ING ALL THEIR PROMISES, THIS 
VOLUME IS LOVINGLY DEDI- 
CATED BY ITS AUTHOR. 



"And it came to pass, that when I was come again to 
Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a 
trance." — Paul, Acts xxii — 17. 



PREFACE. 

Mrs. Sprague and I are often asked about our early- 
life, how we came to be developed as mediums and 
many questions regarding our work in Spiritualism. 
After relating some of these experiences we have been 
urged to publish them. This fact, the desire to en- 
courage other mediums in the development of their 
sacred powers, and a wish to preserve a record of some 
of the important proofs of a future life that with the 
assistance of our beloved spirit friends it has been our 
happy mission to contribute to the great sum of such 
proof, that Modern Spiritualism is surely contributing 
to a spiritually starving and doubting world, constitute 
some of the reasons for the publication of this work. 

Kind reader, we love Spiritualism. It is to us the 
most soul inspiring and blessed gift of the Great 
Giver of all to the children of men. We long to see 
the day when Spiritualism will be known and under- 
stood, and its teachings practiced in the daily lives of 
all men. In that day, earth will be a heaven and all 
wrongs will be righted. 

Feeling thus, I am satisfied that no further excuse 
is needed for the giving to the world in this work some 
of the proofs that have so abundantly blessed many of 
our friends as well as ourselves. 

In presenting this work to the public, I am aware of 
its imperfections. In many instances I have failed to 
record the names of those who were participants in the 
experiences, and recipients of the messages and tests 
herein recorded, though many such names are given. 
My reasons for not mentioning more of them are as 
follows : We were constantly dealing with people with 
whom we were not acquainted. Our tests and mes- 
sages were usually given to strangers, many of whom 



PREFACE. V 

we never saw before and never saw afterwards. Their 
names were not secured at the time and so we could not 
record them. And others whose names we did secure, 
but whose permission we have not asked, may not care 
to have their names mentioned herein. 

In producing- this work we are keenly alive to the 
position that we occupy. No one knows better the 
trend of the public mind regarding the subject treated,, 
and the incapacity of the unsophisticated skeptic to 
grasp many of the truths herein recorded. Neverthe- 
less, the reader may feel certain of the fact, that every 
statement herein written is the plain truth according to 
the best of my knowledge and belief. 

Reader, I do not ask whether you believe in Spirit- 
ualism or not. If I were to ask anything, I would 
ask: "Do you know that Spiritualism is true?" A per- 
son cannot believe or disbelieve at his own option. 
That is a matter over which he has little control. Ex- 
perience with facts decides our true belief. We may 
say we believe, or we may resolve to accept anything 
without the evidence, but accepting anything- without 
evidence is hardly believing it. There is absolutely no 
merit in belief, or demerit in unbelief. Therefore, we 
would advise all to try to knozc before accepting or 
rejecting anything. This is the advice we would 
respectfully offer to the skeptic who may read this 
work. 

Most of the statements herein that appear in quota- 
tions were either written down at the time they were 
uttered or perhaps a few hours later. Mrs. Sprague, 
our daughter, and others, from time to time reported 
the Spirit messages and tests given through my 
mediumship, and I reported those given through Mrs. 
Sprague. Occasionally they were taken by shorthand 
reporters, in conversations, discussions, etc. I have 
not always given the exact words, but I have faithfully 
recorded the thought and sentiment uttered 

Our statements may be verified by reference to those 
whose names appear in connection with the statements 



VI PREFACE. 

herein recorded. This book contains but few of the 
many hundreds of proofs of a future life given through 
our mediumship and recorded in our diary and note 
book. Many thousands of equally as good and some of 
them even more convincing proofs that we have given 
were never recorded and consequently were lost, only 
to those who received them. Twenty-seven years of 
daily communion with the spirits of the departed has 
demonstrated pretty thoroughly to the writer that there 
is a spirit world and a future life and it has also 
demonstrated this mighty truth to the satisfaction of 
thousands of others all over this broad land, thanks 
to our dearly beloved spirit teachers and helpers. 

The reader will please notice that I use the personal 
pronouns "I" and "me" when referring to myself 
alone and "we" and "us" when speaking of Mrs. 
Sprague and myself, though sometimes her name has 
not been mentioned, as we constantly traveled together. 
I use the plurals "we" and "us" also in speaking of 
our tests, messages and lectures, as in all of these I 
recognize the agency and assistance of my spirit 
helpers. 

E. W. Sprague, 

Detroit, Mich. 




K. W. SPRAGUE. 




MRS. C. A. SPRAGUE. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 



CHAPTER I. 

Author's Birth — Parentage and Opportunities for Edu- 
cation — Religious Beliefs of Parents — Family is 
Mediumistic — Our Little Brother Dying, Hears 
Music and Sees Heaven — Our House Haunted — 
Spirit by Request Repeats Hymn He Composed 
and Used to Sing — Wrong Idea of Heaven — 
Spirit Promises to Rap no More — Sister Calista 
a Medium — "Beneath my Feet are Rivers of Oil" 
— Grandfather a Medium — Mother's Strange Ex- 
perience in Drowning. 

Author's Birth. 

I was born on a farm at North Boston, Erie County, 
N. Y., Sept. 18, 1847. My ancestors were English 
people. Both of my parents were born in America. 

My father, Alanson Sprague, was a Quaker by birth, 
but because he married one who was not a Quaker, his 
name was stricken from the Church roll. 

Later in life he became a great admirer of Thomas 
Paine, and he and his father, Elias Sprague, were 
known far and wide as infidels. Father passed to 
spirit life Dec. 24, 1878, aged 65 years and 15 days. 

My mother, Mary Ann Pond-Sprague, was an active 
member of the Baptist Church during her young 
womanhood and until about the year 1845, when the 
Universalists met and defeated the orthodox ministers 
in discussion. These discussions opened her eyes to 
the new interpretation of the Scriptures and she became 
a Universalist. She adhered to that belief for forty 



8 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

years and when Spiritualism came into our lives and 
our mother came to witness its phenomena and listen 
to the explanation of its philosophy, as it was pre- 
sented through our mediumship, she became an ardent 
Spiritualist. She loved Spiritualism and it was a great 
source of comfort to her in her declining years. She 
was called to the higher life Nov. 14, 1904, at the 
age of 88 years and 6 days. It gives us great satisfac- 
tion to know that we were the instruments through 
whom Spiritualism, the true Comforter, was brought 
to bless our dear old mother's later days of earth-life. 

There were four boys and two girls in father's 
family, namely : Franklin, Francis J., Calista, Elias, 
Eli W., and Sarah C. We were all more or less 
mediumistic, as I can now plainly see since learning 
the meaning of mediumship. 

When modern Spiritualism made its advent in the 
year 1848 my father became interested at once. He 
read everything he could get in those early days upon 
the subject, and finally accepted it without having wit- 
nessed any of the different phases of its phenomena. 
He said it appealed to him as the most rational and 
reasonable explanation of life here and hereafter with 
which he had ever come in contact. 

Eudcational Advantages. 

My educational advantages were very limited. I 
attended school ''in the little red schoolhouse on the 
hill" until T was fifteen years old, when I became my 
own master, and went out into the great world, earn- 
ing my own living, which I have done ever since. 
This gave me no further opportunities for attending 
school and thus my education was neglected. This 
lias been the regret, yea, the burden of my life. 

In later years T have sought to remedy the loss as 
much as possible by utilizing my spare time in diligent 
study. My spirit teachers have been my willing and 
competent helpers and have aided me to understand 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 9 

many things that I could not have acquired in school 
or college. I owe much to them and am truly grateful 
for their love and blessing. 

More Evidence of Mediumship. 

Our little brother Elias passed to spirit life Feb. 22, 
1847, when 5 years of age, and nearly seven months 
before I was born. He died of inflammation of the 
brain. He was sick only from Monday until Friday. 
Just before he passed away he said : "O ! mother, hear 
that sweet music! Can't you hear that sweet music? 
It is so nice, mother." He talked constantly of the 
"pretty city" he said he saw, and wondered that mother 
could not see it. 

The .little fellow talked of the sweet music he heard 
and the beautiful city he saw until he breathed his last. 

Did this little one see and hear things spiritual? I 
for one have no doubt of it, and to me this is proof 
of his mediumship, the sweetest gift of God to man. 

Our House Haunted. 

When I was about twelve years old the spirits first 
manifested at our house. My first recollection of the 
phenomena occurring there was one night when we 
were awakened from our sleep by loud rappings or 
knockings about the room. 

These noises were so loud that they frightened my 
little sister and me very much. I well remember seeing 
my mother sitting on the edge, of the bed and my 
father hastily dressing while the raps in great pro- 
fusion were producing a perfect fusilade along the 
side of the house, then on the ceiling, traveling clear 
across it and down the other side, then coming back 
across the floor and ending with one tremendous rap 
in the center of the floor. 

As I look back upon this picture as it was presented 
to my childish mind, and from what my parents and 
older sister have told me, I feel certain that not only 



10 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

wore we two little children frightened but our parents 
also. 

I have heard spirit raps many times since I became 
a Spiritualist, but none of them have been quite so 
remarkable as those that occurred in that old New 
York home. At times the raps numbered dozens, all 
produced at once. There were little raps, medium- 
sized and large ones, and they had such variations in 
tone that they sounded very strangely. 

On one occasion when the raps had ended in one 
big one on the stove, my father said : "Well, that was 
as loud as a pistol shot." At another time when we 
were awakened in the night by them ; and a great rap 
had come on the outer door father said: "That was 
a peculiar sound; it was like that made by taking a 
wooden beetle and striking the end of a log." 

We were usually kept awake by these nocturnal 
visits of the spirits from one to two hours at a time. 
When they came it was useless for anyone to try to 
sleep. It was simply out of the question, the disturb- 
ance was so great. 

Father would often go outside and around the house 
in the hope of finding some solution to the problem, 
but was unsuccessful in his purpose. 

As is usually the case, people who never witnessed 
these manifestations were ready to explain them. This 
is often the case today. Those people who know the 
least about such things are sometimes so conceited that 
they assume to explain all about them. There were 
many of this class in that neighborhood and though 
each one was sure that he had solved the problem, 
no two explanations agreed. We were told that it was 
loose siding on the house rattled by the wind. But 
the raps came when the wind did not blow, and did 
not come when it did blow. All sorts of explanations 
were given, but none were satisfactory until the final 
solution was found, which I will record later. 

Some said it was mischievous neighbors whipping 
the outside of the house with fishpoles, but the knock- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 11 

ings would proceed with great energy inside the house 
while some investigator was watching on the outside. 

There was a family of very poor people living in the 
neighborhood. They were old settlers and well known. 
They were suspected of being the cause. The only 
reason for their being suspected was that they were 
poor. The suspicious ones said: "It is just like them. 
They are always up to some mischief," etc. How like 
the "witch hunters" of old! Had this happened one 
hundred and seventy-five years earlier, and in the vicin- 
ity of Salem, Mass., these poor but innocent people 
would undoubtedly have been hung as witches and 
wizards, and for the crime of bewitching our house. 

These knockings continued at intervals throughout 
the entire winter. 

Seance Held in Haunted House. 

At the time of these occurrences my Grandfather 
Sprague's estate was being settled in the courts and 
much of it was being spent in that way. Some people 
who half-believed in "spirits" said that it was the 
spirit of grandfather who was so dissatisfied to see his 
property spent in the lawsuit that he wanted to com- 
municate with father in order to put a stop to it. 

There was a trance medium in the place and one 
evening in the spring a few of the Spiritualists came 
with this medium and held a seance. The medium 
was entranced, walked over to my mother and taking 
her hand called her by name and said he was the 
spirit of her father, Luther Pond, and that he wanted 
to communicate with her. He said he wished to en- 
lighten her regarding the future life and explain about 
heaven ; that her idea of those things was erroneous, 
etc. 

He then told of his experience in passing to spirit 
life, of the changes that had come to him since and 
of his present condition. He also gave a wonderfully 
lucid description of the spirit spheres and many other 



L2 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

things he told my mother on that occasion which I 
shall not soon forget. 

Sister a Medium. 

He then took the hand of my sister Calista (who 
was at that time a young- lady) and talked beautifully 
to her for a few moments, then turning to mother he 
told her that Calista was a great medium; that it was 
through her mediumship that he had produced the 
loud rappings that had been going on in the house 
the past few months ; that his purpose in doing it was 
to gain communication with mother, that he might set 
her right regarding the future life and if possible to 
get her consent to let my sister develop her medium- 
ship. He begged my mother to let her sit for develop- 
ment, and declared that she had a mediumship that 
would startle the world when once it was developed. 

Spirit Repeats Hymn He Wrote. 

\\ nile talking to mother he asked her if she could 
not realize that it was her father that was talking to 
her. Mother said : "No, though you do talk very much 
as my father used to talk." She then said : "If it is 
you, father, I wish you would give me something that 
will make me know that it is really you." The spirit 
then asked what he could do to satisfy her that it 
was her father. Mother replied: "If it is you, father, 
will you sing the hymn you composed and used to 
.sing?" The spirit said he could not sing through 
that medium, but would repeat it for her. He then 
repeated the hymn and mother said it was every word 
correct. 

The eyes of those present were wet with tears when 
the spirit finished the hymn. 

The spirit closed this remarkable manifestation of 
spirit power by telling mother that it was he who had 
produced all of the remarkable rappings and who had 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 13 

communicated that evening, and said if she would let 
sister Calista develop her mediumship that he would 
take charge of her and would promise that no harm 
should come to her on account of it. He said that 
she would go up and down this land blessing the 
multitude which would gather to witness the wonder- 
ful phenomena that the spirits would produce through 
her mediumship and her fame would reach around 
the world. He said: "If you will consent to her 
development, I shall have accomplished my purpose. 
Can you not promise me, dear child?'' "I cannot do 
it ; I am afraid to do it," said mother. Grandfather 
said he could not exact this promise if it would cause 
mother pain, and that he must be satisfied. 

After assuring us all that we would hear no more 
knockings from him, he told mother that he would 
meet her in heaven, and bade us all good-bye, and 
leaving the medium, he was gone. 

Xo more raps ever occurred around that house 
so far as I know. I well remember seeing my sister, 
on two different occasions, sitting in a circle and 
shaking and trembling, her body swaying to and fro, 
and otherwise acting strangely, and each time mother 
appeared and took her away from the circle. 

I conclude that sister wanted to develop her medium- 
ship, but our dear mother was afraid to have her do so. 
Years later when I questioned mother about this seance 
she would say: "My son, it is very strange. That 
medium personated my father perfectly, the tone of 
voice, the peculiar expression and pronunciation were 
exactly like father's, and he could not have known the 
hymn that father composed and he repeated. It is all 
very strange, but I am afraid it is not right to call up 
the dead." Mother always felt this fear until she be- 
came a firm Spiritualist, and then she acknowledged 
that she thought she made a mistake in not allowing 
Calista to develop her mediumship. 

The experiences related above made a great im- 
~ion upon my young mind, and it was lasting. 



1 1 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Every detail, every trifling occurrence is as fresh in 
my memory as though it had occurred but yesterday. 
The teachings of my spirit grandfather regarding death 
and the after life, as given on that memorable evening 
are in perfect accord with the teachings of our spirit 
band and the generally accepted teachings of modern 
Spiritualism today. Though I was but a child they 
unfitted me for the acceptance of the doctrines of 
orthodox Christianity, and I never united with a church 
of any kind until I was 35 years of age and had 
become a Spiritualist. I then joined the only church 
in which religion and science harmonize; the church 
that stands for every reform and accepts only scientific 
truth for authority; the only church that is capable 
of demonstrating a future life, namely: The Church 
of Modern Spiritualism. 

My Grandfather *a Medium — His Inspired Prophecy 
Fulfilled. 

My grandfather — Elias Sprague — was a humani- 
tarian, and a reformer. He was an "infidel," a lover 
of Thomas Paine and his works, a strictly temperance 
man, and an uncompromising Abolitionist. He be- 
longed to the "Underground Railway," as it was called, 
and risked his life and the confiscation of his property 
in secreting and helping fugitive slaves from the South 
over the border line into Canada, assisting them to 
escape from this "Free Republic" to freedom under a 
monarchy. 

My grandfather and my father voted the first "Aboli- 
tion" tickets ever cast in their township. They had 
to write the name of their candidates on their votes 
as no tickets of that party were printed at that election. 

Grandfather hired halls and speakers and made all 
arrangements for meetings at his own personal ex- 
pense, that the anti-slavery doctrine might be taught 
to his neighbors. 

At one time he engaged the schoolhouse and adver- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 15 

tised that he himself would deliver a lecture on the 
subject of "Human Slavery," though he was not a 
public speaker. When the time for the lecture came 
the house was crowded, and when he began to speak 
his listeners, some of them good (?) Christians, began 
to cough, scuff their feet and make other disagreeable 
noises. This finally developed into cheering, whistling 
and yelling, until the meeting broke up in a perfect 
bedlam. He tried a second time to hold a meeting 
and the results were the same. Abolitionism was not 
yet popular. Grandfather was very persevering and 
determined on another plan by which to reach the 
people. So he put his thoughts on paper and had 
pamphlets printed which he distributed over the entire 
county. His method was to go to schoolhouses and 
leave enough pamphlets so that each child could carry 
home one or two of them to its parents, requesting 
the teacher to distribute them among the scholars for 
that purpose at the closing hour of the school. 

In some cases the prejudiced school teachers con- 
signed the whole bundle of pamphlets to the stove and 
they were consumed. However, grandfather succeeded 
in getting his book on "Human Slavery in the United 
States," and another work on "Bible Fallacies," into 
the hands of the people over the whole county. I have 
been told that these books were very radical upon the 
subjects treated and created much discussion. I am 
sorry to say that I have never been so fortunate as to 
see one of them. 

Grandfather attended school only four months of his 
life. He had no knowledge of grammar, and yet when 
writing his books he would dictate a whole evening 
at a time, while my father would write word for word 
as he gave it, without making a grammatical error. 
My father and his adopted brother, James McCree, 
of Boston, N. Y., are my authority for this statement. 
This I think was a manifestation of his mediumship, 
such as has manifested itself through Dr. A. J. Davis 
and many others of our day. 



16 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Grandfather made some remarkable prophecies. I 
will here relate one of them — which was current in our 
family — as it was told to me by Jeremiah Pierce, of 
Hamburg, N. Y., an old and reliable citizen, and one 
who was not a Spiritualist, but instead, a strong 
oppose r. 

The circumstance I am about to relate occurred at 
the time of the first successful public experiment with 
the Morse Electric Telegraph, in the year 1844. The 
newspapers were recording the fact of its success and 
much comment was being made, when one day Mr. 
Pierce, then a young man, was present while a deacon 
of the local Baptist church and grandfather were hav- 
ing a discussion over the probability of the truth of the 
newspaper reports regarding the matter. 

The discussion occurred in grandfather's front yard 
and became quite a warm one before it closed. The 
deacon finally declared that it was nonsense to suppose 
that anyone could send a message to another by light- 
ning ; that it was a great humbug and anyone must be a 
fool to believe it. Grandfather, much excited, declared 
that he was not a fool though he believed it, and that it 
was not a humbug, but a demonstrated fact, and that 
the deacon ought to know that it was true. He assured 
the deacon that they were living in a wonderful age ; 
that old theories were dying and new truths were being 
discovered; that the church was tottering on its 
foundation, for scientific truth was bound to overthrow 
false theology, religious errors and silly dogmas. 
Nature's laws were becoming better understood and 
natural truths were to take the place of unreasonable 
creeds and beliefs. Becoming greatly excited, grand- 
father cried out: "The world moves, sir! The won- 
ders that are to come to this world are beyond our 
comprehension. Why, sir !" stamping his foot upon 
the ground, "beneath my feet there are rivers of oil 
which will come to the surface before another genera- 
tion passes away !" 

This happened years before petroleum oil was dis- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 17 

covered, and much derision was made of grandfather 
and his prophecy that there were rivers of "grease" 
in the ground. Some of the profane ones suggested 
that it might be true after all, providing the orthodox 
church was right in its teachings. Hell being beneath 
the surface of the earth, it was quite possible, yea, 
more than probable, that the fat of frying sinners had 
been accumulating for centuries and perhaps it might 
some day come to the surface, as in time there would 
probably not be room for it all, since the output of 
sinners was increasing greatly every year. 

Notwithstanding the derision made of our dear old 
grandfather, and the smart sayings of these witty 
ones, as well as the contempt of the "know-it-alls," 
grandfather's wonderful prophecy came true. Yes, 
it literally came true, for the "rivers of oil" have been 
discovered and brought out of the ground, and oil did 
come to the surface before another generation had 
passed away. The prophecy was made in the year 
lSH and Col. Drake and Mr. Bowditch sunk the first 
oil well in 1858, just fourteen years later, and tapped 
the "rivers of oil" of which grandfather in a moment 
of excitement had foretold. He said it would come 
to the surface before another generation passed away 
and it came in fourteen years. 

Grandfather Sprague was a medium. It is a pity 
he did not know it so as to have developed and used 
it for the benefit of those whom he always sought to 
bless. He finally became a Spiritualist and passed 
away under its comforting influence. He now re- 
turns to me as one of my "familiar spirits" and 
teachers, thus continuing his work for humanity. 

Mother's Strange Experience in Drowning. 

My mother related to me incidents in her life which 
prove that my mediumistic power came in part at least 
from her. When she was a girl she fell head foremost 
into a spring. She was reaching down to get a pail 



IS A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

of water, lost her balance and fell in. The spring was 
walled up with field stone; it was so narrow that she 
could not turn over in it and she must have drowned 
had not assistance arrived in time to save her. She 
said she never lost consciousness at all; that everything 
lo her was as light as day. She saw her father come 
out of the house, which was situated on the hill above 
the spring and heard someone call to him, saying: 
"Mary Ann has fallen into the spring." She saw her 
father turn and run down the hill to the spring and 
pull her out; she saw him carrying her body to the 
house and saw the people working over her trying 
to bring her back to consciousness. A half hour passed 
by before she was able to take possession and control 
of her body. After the body was resuscitated every 
little detail of the case was as clear to her as though 
she had been an eye-witness in the body to the whole 
affair, yet she was apparently lifeless until resuscitated. 
It is plain that mother saw what transpired on the 
material plane without her physical eyes. 

My mother had other strange experiences, but I will 
only record the following: For a number of years, 
while I was a boy at home, mother was subject to 
peculiar "spells," as we called them. She would cry 
out in a very strange voice in the night. The peculiar 
sound of her voice never failed to awaken some of us. 
and we would jump out of bed and hasten to her bed- 
side, there to find her cold, limp and apparently life- 
less. We could find no evidence of respiration or circu- 
lation ; we could find no pulse ; she was perfectly limp 
and, to all appearances, was dead. The only way we 
could bring her out of this condition was by rubbing 
her. Usually we would work over her, rubbing briskly 
her whole body for a half hour or more before we 
could discern a sign of life. When she recovered 
from those "spells" she would remember and tell us 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 19 

everything that had been said and done, repeating our 
conversation, etc., though animated life was apparently 
entirely suspended. She said that she was always 
perfectly at ease and happy only for our sorrow and 
anxiety, which she fully realized. In her later years 
she ceased having those "night spells." 

I remember, when I was quite small, seeing the dif- 
ferent members of the family surrounding the bed ; 
rubbing her and all crying. As I sat watching them 
and crying I thought, "Oh ! what will I do if my poor 
mother dies !" Words can never express the anguish 
that filled my poor little heart. Oh ! how I suffered 
as I thought, "Maybe she will never speak to me 
again." And then I would wonder what I would do if 
she did not recover. I well know how a child can 
suffer. That experience tells me today that a child 
can suffer mental agony as great or greater than an 
adult. I have never suffered since I arrived at man's 
estate as I suffered when a child for fear that my 
dear mother would die. One may love so deeply as to 
cause him to suffer the greatest agony. My mother 
was very mediumistic. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 



CHAPTER II. 

A Child Trying to Solve the Problem of His Creation 
and Destiny — Led Back to Indiana by Spirit 
Influence — A Spirit Raps Warning- of Death — 
Sister Emily's Transition — Joined in Wedlock — 
Our First Seance — Deeply Entranced — Mr. 
George Walker, of Hamburg, N. Y., Conducts 
the Seance — Father's Encouraging Message — 
Seance with Charles E. Watkins. 

Child Trying to Solve the Problem of Creation. 

I well remember when I was but a child of eight or 
nine years, trying to solve the problem of life. I would 
often sit in school with my head resting on my arm 
and my arm on the desk in front of me and become 
oblivious to my surroundings while trying to unravel 
the mystery of my creation and destiny. 

I would think back, carefully going over the things 
I could remember in my young life, and then try to 
trace my life beyond my birth. Where was I? What 
was I before that important event? 

After studying this great problem for a time and 
making no progress toward solving it, I would turn 
the other way and ask myself the question, "Where 
do we go when we die?" I would go carefully over 
the things of life that I knew about and try to gather 
some facts that would throw light upon the question, 
thus alternating between these two greatest subjects 
of life, "Whence came we?" and "Whither are we go- 
ing?" until my childish brain would become bewildered 
and my little head would ache. • 

This habit of study became frequent with me. I held 
my book in my lap usually and the teacher thought I 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 21 

was studying my lesson, but on these occasions I 
scarcely knew I had a book. 

My childish study of these two great problems was 
not in vain. It brought forth results, for one day 
when I had devoted my whole energy to the solving 
of the question until my brain was racked with pain, I 
suddenly came to the following conclusion, namely: 
God had hung up a curtain where we entered this 
life at birth, and another where we left it at death, 
and we should not try to look behind either of these 
curtains, for He did not intend that we should know 
anything about it; that it was undoubtedly best for us 
not to know, for God does what is best. 

After this decision I ceased to allow myself to 
become absorbed in this unsolved problem for many 
years. Today, though fifty years have passed since 
the above experience, I know no more about the ques- 
tion "Whence came I?" than I knew then, though, 
thanks be to the spirit friends, I have a little more 
knowledge regarding the other question, "Whither 
am I going?" 

Evidence of Spirit Power — Led Back to Indiana. 

On the 18th day of September, 1862, when I was 
15 years old, my father "gave me my time." In other 
words, he told me I could go for myself and have all 
I could earn if I would take the responsibility of caring 
for myself. 

My brother Francis, who lived in Michigan, came 
to our father's home soon after I became "my own 
man." and I went home with him. His wife had gone 
to Indiana to visit relatives and we soon followed. 
We spent the winter until February in a log house 
near Lacrosse, Ind., on a farm that my brother bought. 

In February we packed and boxed our household 
goods and my brother and his wife went to board with 
a minister near Wanatah. I remained there but on* 



32 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

night. My brother and I slept on the floor in the 
parlor with his baby boy between us. His wife occu- 
pied a bedroom adjoining the parlor. 

Was It a Warning? 

While I was sleeping there came a rap or knock so 
loud that it awoke both of us. We were on our feet in- 
stantly and looked in Mrs. Sprague's room, expecting 
to find her awake and wanting something; but, to our 
surprise, she was sleeping quietly. We went back to 
bed, and in the morning my brother asked me if I 
thought the knocking that we had heard was a warn- 
ing of his wife's approaching death. That morning 
I left them and went to Dowagiac, Mich., to look 
after a farm that my brother held under lease, and 
he was to come and bring his family in March. I 
was to remain in Michigan until he came and then 
T was to work for him the following summer. 

I went up to the farm, which was three miles east 
of Dowagiac, and remained there three or four days, 
then started out on foot to visit an aunt who lived 
nine miles west of Dowagiac. When I came to the 
town I left the road and went across the common 
to the depot. I had no reason for doing this, and I 
was going out of my way considerably besides. I did 
not stop at the depot, but kept right on across the 
track, and was walking up the street, going away 
from the railroad, with my grip in my hand, when I 
heard the short, sharp whistle of a locomotive. I 
looked back, turned on my heel, and said to myself, 
"I will go back to Indiana," and ran back and boarded 
the caboose of that freight train. I was constantly 
asking myself why I was going back there, and 
reasoned that I had nothing to go for. My brother 
would come over in a few days to remain, etc., but 
all the time I felt impressed to hasten to him. The 
train could not go fast enough ; I was nervous, uneasy 
and did not know what was the matter with me. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 23 

The strange part of the matter is that I had never 
thought of returning to Indiana until that locomotive 
whistle startled me and in that instant I was on my 
way. Arriving at Michigan City, I took a passenger 
train for Wanatah, Ind. Arriving there, I hastened 
to the place where my brother was boarding. As I 
neared the house my brother chanced to come out of 
the door and, seeing me, he ran and caught me in 
his arms and began to cry. "Oh," said he, "I am so 
glad to see you. Emily is dead and I have no friends 
left. We buried her over there in the cemetery yes- 
terday. Oh, dear! I know the good Lord sent you 
back to me, my dear brother." 

After he calmed himself a little we went to his 
room and he told me all. He said his wife had passed 
away the day after I left him, and after the funeral 
he came back to the place where he had stored his 
goods, and there he found some of his wife's relatives 
quarreling over the contents of her trunks. He said 
he became speechless for a few moments, then, step- 
ping forward, he selected a nice dress for one, a fine 
shawl for another, etc., until he had given each one 
something; then he closed the trunks and told them 
that must settle the matter. This angered them and 
caused him to feel that he and his little two years 
old baby boy were without friends. 

Forty-four years have passed since that day, and 
as I am copying this from an old memorandum my 
eyes are so full of tears that I can hardly see the 
words I am writing. My poor brother had parted 
with his life companion through her death, and was 
left alone with their little baby boy — alone among 
poor mortals who had no love for him or the little 
orphan their relative had left behind. The expense 
of the funeral had exhausted the ready money he 
had with him and he knew not where to go, in that 
country, for money to pay the expense of moving 
back to Michigan. My loan, therefore, was to him, 
as he said, "A godsend." It all worked out well, but 



24 \ i i I i ki LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

it was a great trial for my brother. I am this day 
thankful to the dear spirit friends who sent me to 
comfort him in his hour of trouble. It was nineteen 
years after this experience before I solved its mystery, 
and the reader of this hook will learn how it was 
solved. 

United in Wedlock. 

( )n the thirteenth day of August, 1867, E. W. 
Sprague and Clarissa A. Pray were united in marriage 
at Dowagiac, Mich. We began life together at North 
Boston, N. Y., and soon began to attend the annual 
meetings of 'The Friends of Human Progress'' (Spir- 
itualists), which were held in old Hemlock Hall, North 
Collins, N. Y. We attended these "Three-Day Meet- 
ings'' each succeeding year until the year 1881, listen- 
ing to and enjoying the pholosophy, but not having 
the pleasure of witnessing the phenomena of Spirit- 
ualism. In the spring of the year 1881, with our 
two little children, Leslie and Marie, we moved to 
North Collins, which brought us in closer contact 
with Spiritualists and Spiritualism. 

Our First Seance. 

On the third day of September, 1881, we attended 
the yearly meeting of "The Friends of Human Prog- 
ress," held in old Hemlock Hall, accompanied by a 
number of friends from Hamburg and North Boston 
who were visiting us at the time. We all became 
very much interested in the meetings of that day, and 
at the close I went to its president, Rev. George W. 
Taylor, and asked if there was a medium present that 
we could get to go home with us and spend the night. 
I le said they were all engaged to go to other places, 
and we were disappointed. Subsequently we were 
introduced to a Spiritualist, Mr. George Walker, of 
I lamburg, and we invited him to spend the night with 
us. We told him that our friends who were stopping 
with us. as well as ourselves, were very anxious to 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 25 

learn about Spiritualism. He said he was not a 
medium and would be of no- use to us in the way of 
demonstrating its truth. We hardly knew the differ- 
ence between a Spiritualist and a medium. We urged 
him, and finally he consented. 

In the evening Mr. Walker was asked to form a 
circle. He discouraged it, explaining that he was no 
medium and probably there was no one present who 
had such gifts, and that we would get nothing under 
those conditions. We persisted, however, and a circle 
was formed around a large extension table, consisting 
of thirteen persons [unlucky number( ?)]. Mr. 
Walker took charge, and as soon as we joined hands 
I began to feel strange. Thrills, shocks and chills 
were chasing up and down my spine. My heart beat 
so fast that it frightened me. My throat filled. My 
breath grew short. My eyes persisted in closing, and 
I would have broken away but I had been listening 
to the lectures, and they had impressed me very much, 
so I said mentally: "If it is spirits that are doing this, 
go ahead, but you can't have my consciousness." 

As soon as I gave my consent a strange prickling 
sensation passed over my body and I was soon deeply 
entranced. A pencil was placed in my hand, and it 
wrote the following words on a piece of paper pro- 
vided for the purpose : "Spiritualism is true." This 
message was handed to me after the seance, and 1 
then knew that they were my father's words ; later he 
told us that it was he who wrote them. To me these 
three words had a mighty significance. I knew that 
I was not their author, and I knew intuitively that my 
spirit-father wrote them. 

My father was a spiritualist for many years before 
passing to the spirit-world, though he never saw any of 
the phenomena excepting that which occurred at our 
house when it was "haunted." During his last illness 
he frequently said he wished he could be sure that 
there was another life. I was not a Spiritualist at that 
time, but I said : "Father, you believe in Spiritualism. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

don't you?" "Yes," said he, "I do believe in Spiritual- 
ism, but I cannot say that I know it is true. I believe 
it with all my heart, but I may be mistaken. Other 
men who are wiser than I, do not believe it. I regret 
not having seen the phenomena in their various forms, 
because, this being the supposed proof, perhaps after 
witnessing- it I would be able to say I know, where 
now I can only say I believe." 

Here is evidence that belief is not sufficient to satisfy 
when it comes to the test. Belief is helpful but knowl- 
edge is far preferable. I talked with father upon 
this subject several times just before his transition, 
and the above was his thought, which shows the value 
of spiritual phenomena. Let no one discourage the 
production and investigation of spirit manifestations. 
That night when I was entranced, father came back 
and answered the great question that weighed upon 
his mind so greatly the last eleven months of his earth 
life, and he answered it in the affirmative. I did not 
realize the full significance of that message until sev- 
eral days after it was given ; but when I came to real- 
ize its full meaning it brought me great comfort. Father 
had proved by his own experience in spirit life that 
Spiritualism is true and had returned to tell me that 
he had found it so, and his desire was satisfied. 

A Personating Medium. 

The other manifestations of that seance were still 
more wonderful. Immediately after father had written 
his message I was led to personate another spirit. Mr. 
Walker told the circle that I was evidently personating 
someone that was drowned. After going through a 
period of apparent strangling, struggling, etc., my hand 
moved forward on the table and turned over. Mr. Walk- 
er said :"I think he wants to shake hands with someone." 
Mrs. Sprague placed her hand in mine ; my hand closed 
slowly on hers then opened again. Mr. Walker said: 
"It is not for you ; let the next one take his hand." 
Mr. Hawkins took it and I grasped it tightly, sprang 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 27 

up and fell partly across the table, threw my arm 
around his neck and cried out : "Oh, Papa ! Oh, 
Papa !'' and the tears ran down my cheeks. Then 
Mrs. Hawkins, who sat beside her husband, touched 
my shoulder and said : "Willie, have you a word foi 
Mamma?" I grasped her hand and cried: "Yes, Mam- 
ma. Oh, Mamma ! Oh, Mamma !" The scene was so 
affecting that the whole circle was in tears. 

This darling boy of sixteen years had been drowned 
five weeks before. The above facts were given me 
by members of the circle after it had closed. When 
I came out of the trance I remembered but little in 
detail of what had transpired, and yet I was so greatly 
impressed with the experience that I was like a new 
Methodist convert. I walked the floor in the excite- 
ment of the moment and said to my friends : "Spiritual- 
ism is true. Now I know it is true." Words cannot 
express the joy that filled my soul. I felt that I had 
really entered heaven and had communed with the an- 
gels. It was indeed a happy experience and furnished 
some evidence of "A Future Life Demonstrated." 

I had not the remotest idea that I should be con- 
trolled when I entered this my first seance. It cannot 
be attributed to auto-suggestion, self-hypnotism, or 
anything of the kind. It was so unexpected, so won- 
derful, so overwhelming, so convincing and altogether 
inspiring, that even now as I look back upon the 
experience of that evening I am thrilled with its 
grandeur. I wish I could find words to convey my 
experience of this one evening to others, that they 
might understand and appreciate its full meaning. 

From this time we began a thorough investigation 
of Spiritualism. Our opportunities were of the best 
and the results were entirely satisfactory as will be 
shown as we proceed. 



do \ it rURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Seance With Charles E. Watkins. 

The next day we attended the lien. lock I lall meet- 
ing, where I arranged for a seance for a few friends 
and ourselves, with Charles E. Watkins, one of the 
most wonderful slate-writing mediums. Five of the 
members of this seance were in our circle the previous 
evening. These, together with two other persons, 
making seven beside the medium, composed the Wat- 
kins seance. We were given slips of paper, and each 
sitter wrote several names of their spirit friends and 
asked them questions. These papers were all of one 
size and just alike. W'e rolled them up into little 
balls or pellets and mixed them all together on the 
table, so that no one could tell his own from the 
others. The medium never saw what was written 
on them or touched them after they were given to 
the sitters. And the names thereon written were all 
given and the questions all satisfactorily answered by 
the medium. 

One of the questions written by Mrs. Hawkins read 
as follows : "Willie Hawkins, did you ever come to 
me before?" Mr. Watkins apparently became en- 
tranced, repeated the question written on the pellet, 
and in answer to it said, "Oh, Mamma ! why do you 
ask that question, when you know that T came to you 
through Mr. Sprague last night?" 

Independent Slate Writing. 

We then took two ordinary school slates and placed 
them together, with a small piece of slate pencil be- 
tween them, and all the members of the circle took 
hold of them, holding them directly over the table. 
The medium reached over the circle and touched the 
frames of the slates, and pretty soon we heard the 
writing as it proceeded. When it ceased the slates 
were opened by Hon. Norman Sprague, of Orchard 
Park, N. Y., who sat beside me. We read the writing, 
and as Mr. Sprague finished, he cried out: "Merciful 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 29 

God ! that is from my mother and it is in her own 
handwriting*. It is her own signature," and he wept 
for joy. 

We received three slate writings that day, and all 
the questions, numbering twenty or twenty-five, were 
correctly and satisfactorily answered. This seance also 
added to our stock of evidence of the truth of 
Spiritualism. 



CHAPTER III. 



Home Circle Formed — Pellet Reading- Developed — 
Spirit E. V. Wilson Joins Our Spirit Band — A 
Strange Phenomenon Explained — "I Do Remem- 
ber My Promise" — A Remarkable Test. 

Home Circle Formed. 

Soon after the seance mentioned in the previous 
chapter we formed a circle in our home and began 
a thorough and systematic investigation of Modern 
Spiritualism, and from this time the phenomena, phi- 
losophy, science and religion of Spiritualism were pre- 
sented through our own mediumship evening after 
evening, three hundred and sixty-five times each year 
for six fruitful years, and two or three times each 
week for two years more. Thus we labored for our 
education and development, following always the ad- 
vice and instructions of the spirit friends, who some- 
times used strange and peculiar methods in preparing 
us for our work in the great movement. Many proofs 
of spirit presence and spirit power, and many com- 
munications were given at nearly every meeting. 

Pellet Reading Developed. 

At a meeting held in the home of Sarah and Jane 
Paxson, in the town of Eden, N. Y., a medium, Mrs. 
Ellen Landon (now Mrs. Wesley Ford) left the circle 
in which we were sitting and wrote something on a 



:; " \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

slip oi paper, folded it, and came and placed it upon 
my forehead. At once I began to see and describe 
spirits and to bear them speak. I told her what 1 
saw and beard, and it proved to be the true answer 
to her written question. I knew nothing of what 
she had written. This became a favorite phase of 
my mediumship, and was often practiced at the fort- 
nightly meetings held at the farmers' homes in Eden, 
Evans and Lawtons, as well as at our home circles. 
Of later years we have used this phase of mediumship 
only for ourselves and when we have desired some 
important question answered or problem solved that 
we could not answer or solve for ourselves. 

Spirit E. V. Wilson Comes to Us. 

One evening in the latter part of October Mr. and 
Mrs. Henry Candee, of Pontiac, called on us. We 
held our usual circle, and they sat with us. A power- 
ful influence took possession of my hand, shaking it 
and beating the table in the attempt to control it. A 
pencil was placed in my hand, which quieted down 
at once and began to write slowly. This was purely 
automatic writing, as I did not have the slightest idea 
what was being written. My hand moved slowly, 
then ceased to move. Mrs. Candee took up the slate 
and, turning it toward the light, read aloud, "E. V. 
Why," she exclaimed, "it is E. V. Wilson." Instantly 
I was taken to my feet. My under jaw protruded be- 
yond the upper one, and I was transfigured. My looks 
and manners were entirely changed. My voice was 
not my own. In short, I was thoroughly entranced 
by the spirit of E. V. Wilson — one who was well 
known in earthly life as one of the greatest platform 
test mediums of Modern Spiritualism — who began 
speaking through me. He said, "I have been fishing 
for this lad a long time, and at last I have caught 
him." He then went on to state that I had splendid 
mediumship, and with our consent he would under- 
take to develop it. Tie said that he would be able 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 31 

to develop it to that extent that he would speak through 
me in public and so personate himself and manifest 
his individuality that his old friends would know and 
recognize him ; that he would develop me until he 
could give tests and readings in private and from the 
platform in a way similar to those that were given 
through him while he was in earth life. He said 
that I would go over this whole land preaching the 
gospel of Spiritualism and demonstrating its truth. 

Mrs. Sprague was sitting at the table. She was 
sick, and had become so poor <md thin that she only 
weighed one hundred and sixteen pounds. She had 
about given up hope of ever being better, and she 
said, "Brother Wilson, then what will become of me?" 
"Bless you, lady," said he, "we will first cure you of 
your illness. We will make you well and strong, and 
will develop your mediumship, and you shall go with 
your husband ; you will preach the gospel of Spiritual- 
ism to thousands of people and will give platform 
tests to large congregations." "How long will it be, 
Brother Wilson, before I will be able to do all of this?" 
asked Mrs. Sprague, in a doubtful tone. "Inside of 
ten years, madam, you will have fulfilled my proph- 
ecy," said he. This was a long time to look ahead, 
and seemed to dampen the ardor of the circle for a 
moment; but friend Wilson added: "We will develop 
your wonderful powers of healing and your ability to 
give private readings and hold circles, in a short time. 
But to regain your health is the first important work." 
It was almost ten years later when Mrs. Sprague 
gave her first lecture and her first platform tests. She 
soon began healing the sick, holding circles and giving 
private readings. Her health improved until she was 
a well woman, and her weight increased from one 
hundred and sixteen to one hundred and eighty 
pounds. We have traveled over this land working 
together in the Spiritualistic field, and the prophecy of 
spirit E. V. Wilson has been fulfilled with wonderful 
exactness. 



32 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Strange Phenomena Briefly Explained. 

As noted above, Spirit Wilson wrote the initial 
letters "E. V." and followed with a scrawl. This 
manifestation had occurred several times in previous 
circles. The spirit had never succeeded in writing 
the full name, and we had no idea what it was trying 
to write. Here the question naturally arises: Why 
could the spirit control my hand to write the initials 
"E. A'." and not he able to write the whole name? 

This is a fair question, and I will try to explain 
it briefly as it appears to me. My brain had not yet 
become attuned to Spirit Wilson's hypnotic influence. 
lie could not yet impress me with what he wished 
to write ; therefore, he had to do it automatically by 
using my physical organism independent of my mind. 
Me could not yet perfectly control my hand long 
enough and w T ell enough to write his full name. It 
required practice to become proficient in the perform- 
ance of this remarkable manifestation. But just as 
soon as I became conscious of his presence and de- 
sire to control me, and consented to his doing so, I 
helped him greatly to make the necessary conditions 
to do so. Through constant practice we became better 
acquainted with the laws governing these phenomena 
and better adapted to each other, so that he could 
soon write long communications easily, whereas at 
first he was unable to impress me with what he wished 
to write. 

Let me say that no spirit has ever hypnotized me 
without my full consent. The first lesson the spirit 
friends taught us was how to control conditions, and 
that we should be masters of ourselves, always de- 
ciding when and where we should be hypnotized or 
controlled, or if we should not be controlled at all. 
They said they would develop a larger and stronger 
individuality in us, and they have fulfilled every prom- 
ise to our perfect satisfaction. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 33 

Remarkable Test at Hamburg, N. Y. 

On February 25, 1882, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hawk- 
ins, Mrs. Sprague and myself visited our good friend 
Mrs. E. M. Sickman, at Hamburg, N. Y. While 
there we held a circle. After we were all seated, I 
asked if any one would like to write a question. Mrs. 
Sickman said she would be pleased to write one, and, 
leaving the table, she went into an adjoining room 
and wrote a question on a slip of paper. Returning, 
she took her place beside me, dropped the question 
she had written into her lap and placed her hand upon 
the table with ours. 

When she returned to the circle I was under partial 
control. My eyes were closed, as they always were 
at the time when I was under control ; and I did not 
know what she had done with her question. It was 
folded securely, so that I could not have seen the in- 
side of it if my eyes had been open and I had wished 
to do so. I saw and described a lady's hat, but saw 
no more until I had described it. Then there appeared 
a well dressed lady wearing the hat. I described her 
minutely. Following this, I described a great prairie, 
a house on the prairie, and standing in the door I 
saw the woman I had described. Then I became en- 
tranced, and, turning to Mrs. Sickman, said : "Oh, 
my dear friend, I am so glad to come to you. I do re- 
member my promise, I do remember my promise, and 
I will gladly fulfil that promise to-day." The spirit 
then related her experience in passing into spirit life, 
giving a description of her surroundings, etc., and 
closed her beautiful message by saying: "God bless 
you, my dear friend. Heaven is more beautiful than 
words can express. I have met all of my loved ones 
who preceded me and I am so happy, so happy." 

Now as to the question Mrs. Sickman had written. 
It read as follows : "Mrs. Grover, do you remember 
your promise, and will you come and talk with me?" 
What was that promise ? The following is Mrs. Sick- 



ZA A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

man's statement, given at the time o\ the seance: "Sev- 
eral years ago Mrs. (irover and I were friends living 
in Monmouth, 111. We had seen a little of Spiritual- 
ism and had become interested. Mrs. Grover moved 
to Kansas and 1 came here to New York. When we 
bade each other good-by, not knowing whether we 
would ever meet again, we promised that the one who 
died first should return to the other and tell her how 
she found things in that other life, providing life con- 
tinued and it was possible to return. I was at that 
time a strong Materialist, and Mrs. Grover was a 
member of the Christian church and a firm believer 
in a future life." 

Some proofs or tests contained in this experience 
are as follows : 

1st. I did not know, nor did I have the least hint 
of what Mrs. Sickman's question could be. 

2nd. I never heard of Mrs. Grover until after this 
seance. 

3d. I described her personal appearance, Mrs. Sick- 
man said, as perfectly as she could have described her. 

4th. I described her little new house in Kansas just 
as she had described it in a letter to Mrs. Sickman, 
as Mrs. S. told us. 

5th. I saw the great prairie, and Mrs. Grover lived 
on the prairie in Kansas. 

6th. The spirit used the very words Mrs. Sickman 
had written in the question. Mrs. Sickman wrote: 
"Do you remember your promise, and will you come 
and talk with me?" The spirit said: "I do remember 
my promise," repeating the words, and then she did 
come and talk -to her as she had promised before her 
death. 

vth. The promise was clearly fulfilled by the spirit 
in describing her experience in passing over and the 
conditions she had found in the spirit world, this hav- 
ing been a part of the agreement made between the 
two mortals at Monmouth, 111. 

Mrs. Sickman stated that she had never told a living 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 35 

soul of this promise until after the spirit had fulfilled 
it at this seance. 

Thus our spirit friends fulfil their promises, and 
thus "A Future Life is Demonstrated.'' 



CHAPTER IV. 

Remarkable Experience in Buffalo — Wonderful Sit- 
ting with Mrs. Wilcox— Not Mind-Reading is 
Proved — Spirits Find Lost Spectacles — Burial 
at Sea. 

Remarkable Experience. 

While serving as juror in Buffalo, N. Y., in Febru- 
ary, 1882, I decided to change my boarding place and 
go and room with a friend. The first evening my 
friend was serving on a case and could not go with 
me, so I went to the new boarding-house alone. At 
nine o'clock I was shown to my room and retired. 
There was no person in the room but myself. Just 
as I was nicely settled in bed, a hand clutched my 
throat, a pillow was placed over my mouth, and I 
was apparently being strangled. A man of dark com- 
plexion, with a long beard, looking terribly ugly, was 
bending over me and pressing the pillow down over 
my mouth with one hand and choking me with the 
other so that no air could reach my lungs. 

I realized that I was personating a murdered woman, 
and was impressed with the whole scene as the murder 
was enacted. It was not a very pleasant experience, 
as I was alone in a strange place. I knew it was only 
a personation, as I had often been led to personate 
before ; yet. I experienced the fright that was felt by 
the murdered woman, and in a measure I suffered 
therefrom. I also felt a sense of security, as I had 
unbounded faith and confidence in my spirit helpers. 
I could not speak nor breathe, but mentally asked my 
spirit friends to relieve me from this condition. It 
was done almost instantly. I regained my breath ; 



36 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

the spirit friends assured me that nothing should harm 
me and that I should not be molested again that night. 
A soothing influence came over me, and soon I was 
lost in peaceful sleep, unconscious of the physical sur- 
roundings until the morning dawned. 

Subsequently the spirit friends explained that they 
had a great purpose in bringing this experience to 
me. They said that the spirit of this poor murdered 
woman was bound to that spot and could not release 
herself from it; that the terrible night could not be 
forgotten by her, and that the thought of the terrible 
tragedy drew her constantly to the spot where it oc- 
curred. The spirit friends teach that in spirit life 
one can think of any place within his sphere and he 
is there. So with this murdered woman : when she 
thought of the horrible tragedy through which she 
had passed, she was there, and living it over again. 
The shock was so great that she could not forget it 
for one moment, consequently she was bound to the 
spot. This, in a measure, helps to explain the phe- 
nomena of haunted houses. 

I was told that, in the lady's coming to me and 
passing through this condition again, with her mind 
alert to everything that she had experienced before, 
it would, to some extent, take from her the horror 
and fear that enshrouded her, and that finally she 
would become free to pursue the natural tendency of 
life in the spirit world. 

Another reason why this experience was given to 
me was that it brought a lesson that Spiritualism is 
teaching to the world, and, as I was to become a 
teacher of the Spiritualist philosophy, this practical, 
personal experience was needed to help to qualify me 
as such teacher. And, furthermore, such experiences 
develop the medium for his work in proving the truth 
of spirit return. Let me explain: If the spirit of one 
who was murdered comes to me now, when 1 am giv- 
ing tests from the rostrum or elsewhere, I know it 
the moment he comes into my atmosphere. I sense the 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 37 

pain, the fright, etc., instantly, and tell the audience 
the cause of his death. In my development 1 often 
personated those who had died with gunshot wounds, 
fevers, consumption of the lungs, etc., and in those 
personations I became developed to understand the 
sensations that each condition brings to a medium ; 
so, whenever I am led to personate, it helps to'identify 
the spirit manifesting. This phase of mediumship, 
manifested through a developed medium, is always 
correct. I never make a mistake when a spirit brings 
to me the condition that caused his death. It always 
proves correct when I give it to the audience. There- 
fore, it may be seen that there was a double purpose 
in the experience related above, namely : to help the 
spirit to gain her release, and to develop me to under- 
stand the condition of a person who was murdered 
and to properly interpret his message in the test 
seance. 

Of the above statement I will say: I have no proof 
of their truth that would be accepted in a court of 
justice, or even considered by an ordinary jury, and 
perhaps this is well; yet it is all as true and real to 
me as any ordinary everyday experience in life. Hav- 
ing had many similar experiences in our twenty-seven 
happy years of almost daily communion with the spirit 
friends, we have learned that they are simply facts 
in nature — natural facts. When all mortals have 
learned that every act of their lives is witnessed by 
loving souls of the invisible realms, a better, more 
beautiful and happier earthly life will be the heritage 
of all. 

A Wonderful Reading — Mrs. Wilcox the Medium. 

For seven weeks during February and March, 1882, 
I was serving as a juror in the Court of Oyer and 
Terminer in Buffalo, N. Y. I made inquiry and 
learned that a Mrs. Helen M. Wilcox, a medium, was 
located at No. 101 Main street. I visited her and 



38 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

she gave me a reading. We were strangers, never 
having met before. She began by outlining my past 
life, telling of incidents and experiences accurately; 
then she described the business I was engaged in at 
that time, giving me some wholesome advice relative 
thereto. She gave the first names of seven different 
spirits, describing some of them, giving relationships 
of others, and otherwise making sure their identi- 
fication. 

Among others she gave the name of Nathan, and 
described a tall, leaning, dead tree with no limbs upon 
it, and stated that Nathan was killed by that tree fall- 
ing upon him and smashing him. 

Not Mind Reading. 

I thought this was a mistake. I knew that he had 
been killed while cutting a bee tree. It had previously 
been described to me as a large elm tree measuring 
between three and four feet at the base. I had never 
heard of the tall, limbless tree in connection with the 
matter. This test cannot be accounted for on the the- 
ory of mind-reading, as this will show. 

On my return home my brother Franklin came to 
visit us, and before mentioning the fact of having had 
a sitting with Mrs. Wilcox, or referring to the message 
that I had received, I asked him what kind of a tree 
it was that caused Nathan's death. He replied as 
follows: "Nathan was cutting a tree which contained 
a swarm of bees. It was a large elm, and when it 
started to fall Nathan ran to get away ; but the elm 
struck a tall, leaning, dead hemlock tree, which 
struck Nathan as he was running at right 
angles from the way the elm was falling. The 
elm did not touch him ; it was the dead hemlock that 
crushed him." He further stated that there were no 
limbs on the hemlock tree, thus confirming the state- 
ment of "Mixie," the Indian spirit who controlled Mrs. 
Wilcox to tell it to me. Here was a fact that had 
never reached my ears. In my mind I had always 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 39 

pictured poor Nathan lying under the base of that 
great elm tree. This to me was absolute proof that 
this wonderful test was not the result of mind reading. 
Nathan was my brother Franklin's father-in-law. 

Spirit Prophesies Change of Business. 

Among many other things that "Aiixie" told me 
through Mrs. Wilcox on this occasion was the follow- 
ing: She said, "Brave, you are going to change your 
business. You are going to move next June. You will 
go on a little short trail toward the setting sun," etc. I 
told Airs. Sprague and the children about this won- 
derful sitting, and when I related her prophecy re- 
garding our moving and changing our business in 
June, we all laughed about it. We had no faith in 
that, though we knew she had told the truth, and 
proved it, too, in all else she had told me. How un • 
reasonable we were to doubt it when all else we knew 
was true. On June 10, in the morning, we were get- 
ting ready to go to the semi-monthly Spiritualist- meet- 
ing held in Evans township, when it occurred to me 
that it was the month fixed by Airs. Wilcox's spirit 
guide for us to move. We joked about it, and said 
we would have to move soon, lor there were but twenty 
days left of the month of June. 

We drove to the meeting and chanced to talk with 
a Mr. Wilson, who wished to exchange his garden 
farm for a house and lot in North Collins. The result 
of that talk was that on the next day, June 11, at five 
o'clock in the afternoon, we had a deed of the Wilson 
farm, and on the following day, June 12, we were 
putting out tomato plants on said farm, and soon after 
we moved there and made it our home. 

This farm was five miles from our North Collins 
home, and when standing on our porch at North Col- 
lins it could be seen that the sun sets exactly over 
the little farm during the month of June. Thus the 
prophecy of the spirit "Mixie" was fulfilled. We did 
"go on a short trail toward the setting sun." We did 



lit A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

"move in June." We also "changed our business" 
from manufacturing' pumps to garden farming. All 
that the spirit told us relative to this move and the 
outcome was entirely fulfilled before we left the farm, 
and the matter was not planned by us. 

There was much more in connection with this sit- 
ting that would be of interest, but lack of space for- 
bids our continuing it further. Such truths as these 
form the basis of the Spiritualist philosophy, and the 
world has received them and is still receiving them 
in abundance. 

Dr. W. Irving Wilcox, the husband of the above- 
named medium, is one of the well known magnetic 
and spiritual healers. They have labored together 
faithfully in the spiritual vineyard for more than forty 
years. They are now residents of Detroit, Mich, 

Spirits Found Lost Spectacles. 

At another one of these meetings I was led to answer 
written questions. I think more than thirty questions 
were placed on my forehead, and all were answered 
satisfactorily to those who placed them there ; though 
I did not see them. 

Among the questions answered that day was one 
written by Mr. Henry Brown, of Evans. When it 
was placed on my forehead I saw and described a 
bookcase, and heard the words, "behind that bookcase." 
This was repeated twice. Then I said, "Mr. Brown, 
that is all I get. Is that the answer to your question?" 
He said he did not know, but would tell me later. 

One month later we attended the meeting, which 
was held this time at Mr. Henry Brown's home, when 
he came to me and handed me a pair of spectacles, 
saying: "Here are the spectacles you found for me." 
"The spectacles I found for you?" said I. "Yes," 
said he, laughing ; "last month at the meeting at Levi 
Brown's I placed a question upon your head in which 
I asked the spirit friends what became of my spec- 
tacles, they having disappeared at a circle held in my 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. -il 

house several weeks before. You described our book- 
case and said 'behind that bookcase.' When I reached 
home I pulled out the bookcase, and there were the 
spectacles. The night they were lost we were hold- 
ing a circle at our home ; the light was turned low. 
I took off my glasses and laid them on the table, and 
they were gone when the circle was over. I searched 
the house over, but could not find them. It was a 
pleasant surprise as well as an excellent test to find 
them behind that bookcase just as the spirit friends 
had stated through you." 

Test Given Mr. and Mrs. Cook, of Evans, N. Y. 

On one occasion, in the year 1882, while attending 
the regular monthly meeting of the Evans, N. Y., 
farmers at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Levi Brown, 
we had the following experience : 

There were about twenty-five or thirty people m 
the circle. I was under a heavy influence, but did 
nothing. It seemed to me that we were waiting for 
something. There came a loud rap at the kitchen door, 
and Mr. Brown left the room. In a moment two 
people, Mr. and Mrs. Cook, appeared at the door of 
the sitting-room. I was controlled at once, and as 
soon as they had taken their seats Mr. E. V. Wilson, 
my control, said to them, "The spirit of a soldier boy 
came in with you." Then he gave a minute descrip- 
tion of him. "I see a vessel at sea ; there is a commo- 
tion on board. I see men coming out of the cabin 
bearing the form of a man wrapped in a burial sheet." 
The influence suddenly changed, and I said : "Mother, 
dear, I did not wait to see my body reach the bot- 
tom, but flew right home to you, and you awoke and 
saw me standing at the foot of your bed and called 
father." Then the spirit told them how he longed to 
reach home before passing away, and how homesick 
he was ; that he felt if he could only reach home first 
he could die happy. The message was touching and 
all present were affected. Then, to make his presence 



1? A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

doubly sure, and to prove more thoroughly his ident- 
ity, he gave proof after proof to these grief-stricken 
parents. (Their son was returning from the army, 
having served as a Union soldier in the War of the 
Rebellion. He died en route and was buried at sea, 
as told by the spirit.) Among other things, the spirit 
said: ''Father, you got the pocketbook with the things 
in it, but you did not get the money." The dear old 
man with trembling voice said : ''Yes, sir. That's 
true." "Well, father, never mind; you will live just 
as long, anyway,'' said the spirit. 

Many other things were given this good couple, 
who were entire strangers to me. I had never seen 
or heard of them until they entered the circle. They 
were members of the Christian church. Before the 
spirit left me he told his father that he could control 
him and communicate to the rest of the family if 
he would let him do so, and urged him to let him 
come ; but the father, not knowing anything about 
Spiritualism, this being his first experience, was not 
prepared to promise ; but at a subsequent meeting the 
father told the spirit he would not object, providing 
it would do him no injury. One evening, while sit- 
ting in their room as usual, the old lady humming 
a tune in a low tone, Mr. Cook was entranced, and 
her spirit soldier boy came and talked through his 
father. This was often repeated thereafter. Mr. 
Cook, though well along in years, became a good 
medium, and this homesick boy was given the pleasuie 
of again communicating with his parents and brother. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 43 



CHAPTER V. 

The "Old Doctor" Comes to Us — Spirit Lights Pro- 
duced — Spirit Materialization a Fact — A Spirit 
Gives Post Office Address. 

Old Doctor Comes. 

In the winter of 1882 the good and faithful Indian 
spirit "Old Doctor" came to me. One morning I 
arose with a headache, pain in my bones and a cough. 
I was feeling quite ill and did not go to my work. 
I sat by the fire shivering, with occasional hot flashes 
passing over my system, neither experience being 
pleasant, when an unseen power began to manipulate 
my body. My feet would not hold still. My hands 
would jerk. I could not keep them quiet. I grasped 
the chair arm firmly, but could not hold it. The sen- 
sations were not unpleasant. I knew it was spirit power, 
and laughed as I planted my feet more firmly and 
grasped the arms of the chair more tightly and said, 
"YVe will see if I cannot hold still." But my hands and 
feet would not remain quiet. I was pleased with this 
new manifestation and said: "Kind spirit, can you 
make me know your wishes? I shall be glad to know 
what you desire me to do." 

The power grew stronger, and at last, under a 
heavy influence, I said : "We must go and sit at the 
stand." This we did, and we were no sooner seated 
than the spirit control began to exercise me power- 
fully. I was perfectly conscious, but utterly helpless 
to hinder it, and for a full half hour I was exercised 
greatly and perspired freely. 

During this time not a word had been said, but 
now the control began to speak with great earnest- 
ness and deliberation, as follows : "Too bad such good 
media got no good doc-tor." (Emphasis on the last 



I I A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

syllable.) "Media much sick. Must have doc-tor to 
keep media well. Media can no do such great work 
when no got spirit doc-tor to fix media. Me be Indian 
medicine man. Me like to be media's old Doc-tor 
Medicine Man; media let me come. Me like media. 
Me do big- work, media let me come. What you 
guess, media's squaw? (Addressing Mrs. Sprague.) 
Media let Indian Medicine Man come be media's 
old doc-tor?" When the ladies assured him that they 
would be glad of his assistance, he again asked : "Yon 
guess media like old doc-tor come fix media when 
media sick?" When told that I would be delighted 
to have him come, he said : "Me glad, squaw. Me 
so glad, squaw. Me go now. Me come back soon, 
squaw. Good-by. Good-by, squaw." And the dear 
old Indian was gone. 

I was much relieved by the treatment he had given 
me. After retiring that night he came and treated 
me in bed. The next morning I was well and able 
to go to my work. This spirit is so noble and true, 
honest and faithful, loving and kind, that we all soon 
learned to love him dearly. 

Under the "Old Doctor's" control I was very clair- 
voyant. I saw and described spirits and diagnosed 
disease. Sometimes at one meeting he would make 
a dozen or more examinations of persons afflicted with 
different diseases, and would locate scars, displace- 
ments, broken bones, etc. 

I think I was never entirely unconscious under the 
"Old Doctor's" control. In fact my mind was often- 
times more acute, and my perceptions clearer under 
his influence than when in my normal state. I could 
see and understand the condition of the patient, but 
I could not express what I saw myself, and the "Old 
Doctor's" limited vocabulary was not helpful in the 
matter. To illustrate: Often I would be made to 
see some organ of the body that was inflamed, but 
I could not speak the word inflammation, though I 
knew that if I could the patient would understand. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 45 

Though I was conscious, I could not utter one word 
for myself while under his control. This fact, I think, 
can be explained as being nearly a full control of 
the physical functions of the body, and with it the 
illumination through inspiration of the mind to see the 
condition of the organs of the patient. 

Sometimes the ailments of the patient would be 
temporarily transferred to my own body; that is, I 
would feel the same as the patient felt. While the 
''Old Doctor" was telling the patient where his pain 
or trouble was, I was feeling it, and could often see 
and feel much more than he would speak of ; and yet 
I had no power to speak one word more than he chose 
to say, or to interfere in any way with his methods 
of diagnosis. As time passed I gradually outgrew 
this trance condition and was able to use my own 
words in examining a patient while being influenced 
by the "Old Doctor" to see the diseased organs, often 
taking the patient's condition temporarily upon myself 
the same as when entranced. 

The subtle laws and forces governing the above- 
mentioned physical and mental phenomena are deserv- 
ing of careful and scientific investigation by all, but 
especially by the medical fraternity. 

Spirit Lights Materialize. 

Sometime in the winter of 1882, as we were sitting 
by the fireside one evening, a strange influence came 
over me. It was different in some respects from any- 
thing I had ever experienced before. I became very 
nervous and uneasy, my muscles twitched, strange 
creeping sensations passed up and down my spine, 
chills passed over my entire body, and there was a 
sensation in the region of the solar plexus and also 
in the brain that is not easily described. 

I arose and began to walk the floor ; backward and 
forward I went, slowly at first, but gradually in- 
creasing the speed, the influence going stronger and 
stronger as I went on. At last I was led to enter 



Hi A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED, 

the bedroom and throw myself upon the bed. I was 
in what we term a conscious trance. My flesh prickled 
as though it was heavily charged with electricity. My 
heart was beating rapidly and so loud that it seemed 
that it might be heard by those in the room. After 
a little while my breath began to grow shorter, and 
continued to do so until it seemed to stop, and the 
heart seemed to cease beating entirely. Had it not 
been for former experiences, and my unbounded faith 
in our spirit helpers, I should have been frightened. 
As it was, I felt a little uneasy when my breath 
stopped. I was perfectly conscious, and could hear 
the exclamations of surprise expressed by my wife, 
mother and the children as they cried out: "Oh, see 
that light!" "See those two over there !" "Oh, Mam- 
ma, see — just see that big long light up there by the 
ceiling!" etc. 

My wife, her dear old mother and our children, sat 
there in the dimly lighted room whence they had fol- 
lowed me and witnessed these strange and beautiful 
phenomena of Spiritualism with feelings of wonder 
and admiration, while I, with my eyes closed tightly, 
hands clasping my head as in a vice, was lying there, 
perfectly conscious and listening to their conversation, 
but seeing nothing of the manifestations. What I lost 
in not witnessing the phenomena was made up in my 
experience with the spirits in producing them. In 
a few moments I was released from the influence and 
was myself again, and none the worse for the experi- 
ence. So far as I know, it did not injure me mentally, 
morally, physically or spiritually, a la Modern 
Theosophy. 

Ignorance often condemns these phenomena as dan- 
gerous and warns people to avoid them. I will say 
that the practice of mediumship in the proper way 
is the greatest renovator of the system and health- 
giving practice known to the race. It is true that 
nearly everything of great value becomes dangerous 
when improperly used. Water, fire, electricity, etc., 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. -47 

are not safe when not properly used, and yet no one 
thinks of discarding them because they are dangerous. 
The mental faculties, when used to excess or when not 
properly used, are as dangerous as dynamite, yet not 
even the Yogi philosophers of India would advocate the 
cessation of the use of the mental faculties. The 
thing for each one to know is how to use his psychic 
powers, and the way to learn how to use them is to 
inquire of intelligent Spiritualists. They are the only 
people who freely use and practice them. They are 
the only safe teachers, because their education has 
come from experience and from the teachings of the 
spirit friends who have made a study of the laws 
governing these phenomena for ages. 

There are quacks, impostors and incompetent people 
in all professions, and Spiritualism has not escaped 
their hated influence. The true doctors of medicine 
should not be blamed if some sick person gets "taken 
in" by some unqualified or unprincipled wretch. True 
Christianity is not to be blamed if some would-be 
advocate misrepresents its teachings. So with Spirit- 
ualism. This great movement should not be judged 
by the "fortune telling," "greatest clairvoyant on 
earth" fraternity of frauds. 

I would be pleased if every skeptic and every oppon- 
ent of Modern Spiritualism, or the physical phenomena 
thereof, could be permitted to experience just once 
what I experienced that one evening. I am sure that 
he would be converted. If not, he would certainly 
become convinced that there was something in it, and 
would be led to investigate further. One personal 
experience is of more value in determining the truth 
of Modern Spiritualism than all the fine-spun theories 
of all the theoretical Scientists of the day. We were 
very fortunate in receiving, in our own home, sufficient 
phenomena of nearly every phase of Modern Spiritual- 
ism to prove their truth, though our principal mani- 
festations are of the mental phases. 



L8 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Materialization True. 

( )n the evening of the eleventh day of May, 1882, 
while holding- a eirelc at our home, Mr. and Mrs. 
Frank Hawkins, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Schanbacher, 
Mrs. Spragne, her mother, and several others being 
present, I was controlled by "Old Doctor" and was 
exercised greatly. He requested that the light, which 
sat on a stand placed close in the corner of the room, 
be turned low. (It was a small kerosene lamp.) This 
was done, the spirit continuing to manipulate and exer- 
cise my body. Many lights were seen. Most of them 
appeared near me, but some of them appeared away 
on the other side of the large circle. Following this 
manifestation there appeared the form of a man. It 
passed between the circle and the light on the stand, 
hiding the light from the sitters as it passed. The 
form then turned and went to the side of the stand, 
leaving the light plainly visible to all of the circle. 
The form then bent over, as though in the act of 
blowing out the light, and the light went out. 

All the time that this was transpiring I was con- 
trolled by "Old Doctor," and he was manipulating my 
body freely. This materialized or etherialized spirit 
form was clearly seen by all present but me, and was 
commented upon by them while the manifestation was 
ocurring. This must have been a materialization, as 
it hid the light from the sitters while passing between 
it and them. 

E. V. Wilson Communicates. 

After the above-recorded manifestation was over, 
the control changed, and Spirit E. V. Wilson greeted 
us. He spoke of the great pleasure it gave him to 
be able to come to us, that it seemed almost like old 
times, when he used to return to "Farmer Mary'*' (his 
wife) and the little ones after a season of hard work 
in the spiritual field. 

In the course of his remarks he explained the differ- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 49 

ence in our slow methods of travel and the method 
used by him in the spirit world. He said all he had to 
do was to think of a place with a desire to be there, 
and he was there. He traveled with the speed of 
thought, though he had his limitations in this, that he 
could not project himself to any place outside the spirit 
zone of this planet. That was his limitation, but he 
expected some day to develop the power to visit other 
planets and spheres. 

Before leaving he requested us to write "Farmer 
Mary" and tell her of his coming to our circles. He 
said it would give her much pleasure to hear from him 
in this way and that it would revive her memory of 
times past when she used to get letters from him when 
he was "on the wing." 

Spirit Gives Post Office Address. 

May 12th, 1882, fulfilling the request of the spirit 
E. V. Wilson, I wrote Mrs. Wilson a long letter in 
which I told her of her spirit-husband coming to us ; 
how he transfigured me and was recognized by his old 
friends, who said his manner, speech, voice and change 
in my looks produced a most perfect personation of 
her husband. 

I told her of some things that Mr. Wilson had said 
about herself and the family, giving the date of his 
own transition, his age, cause of death, how he never 
lost consciousness at all in passing over, and that he 
went to two mediums in different parts of the country 
and sent two messages to her in less than twenty-four 
hours after his transition. (All of this she corrob- 
orated as true in her reply.) 

When I had finished this long letter I could not send 
it, as I did not know Mrs. Wilson's address. We 
thought perhaps it might be found in the "Banner of 
Light," as we remembered reading an appeal to the 
Spiritualists in it, asking for help to raise the mort- 
gage on Mrs. Wilson's home. We had a few copies 
of the paper and we looked them through, but did not 



:,,) A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

find it. We spent an hour in the search, and gave it 
nj). I said: "It is no use looking further; we will 
have to give up sending the letter." Like lightning 
the voice of the spirit shot these words through my 
being: "Lombard, Dupage County, Illinois." I said: 
"Mamma, I have it. Write it down quickly before I lose 
it. She did so, and I addressed the letter ; but, strange 
as it may seem, after having received this address 
clairaudiently under such positive and clear conditions, 
I would not send the letter until I verified its correct- 
ness. So we visited Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins, and they 
found Mrs. Wilson's address in the "Banner of Light," 
which proved that the address the spirit had given me 
was correct, and I mailed the letter. 

Mrs. Wilson's reply to this letter corroborated every 
statement her spirit husband had made that I had men- 
tioned to her. Each one of these statements consti- 
tuted a good test or proof that it was E. V. Wilson 
who communicated to us, as we had no knowledge of 
the man's life, death, family and home conditions, of 
which he had told us, and which his good wife verified 
as true. Thus the proof of a future life multiplies. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Brother Franklin a Good Medium — Cured by Spirit- 
Power — Answer Written Pellets — Mrs. Hawkins' 
Great Affliction Results in Development of Her 
Mediumship. 

Brother Franklin a Good Medium. 

My brother Franklin was a wonderful medium. He 
was clairvoyant, clairaudient, trance and inspirational 
speaker, and a fine test medium. He excelled as a 
medical clairvoyant and magnetic and spiritual healer, 
curing many patients after the "Regulars" had failed. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 51 

Cured by Spirit Power. 

From childhood until thirty-four years of age I was 
the victim of periodical "sick headaches." One night 
in the year 1879, at North Boston, N. Y., I was awak- 
ened from sleep by one of those raging headaches. I 
could not remain in bed. Mrs. Sprague did all she 
could to alleviate my distress, but her efforts were of 
no avail. My poor head persisted in aching. The 
pain had no compassion on my nerves, but continued 
relentlessly until I felt I could not endure it longer. 
The reader who has been the victim of such terrible 
periodical brain spasms will understand what I was 
suffering without further explanation. While I was 
walking backward and forward across the room I 
cried out in my agony. I felt I could not endure the 
pain another minute, when Mrs. Sprague proposed 
going over to my sister's, where my brother Franklin 
was stopping for the night, and get him to come and 
treat me. "Oh!*' said I, "Franklin can do me no good." 
But we could think of nothing else to do, as there was 
no doctor nearer than four miles away, so she went 
after him and he came. I was sitting in a chair hold- 
ing my head with both hands when he entered the 
door. He greeted me with a kindly "Good morning," 
and asked what was the matter with me. I explained 
that I had the worst headache that ever anyone could 
have and continue to live. He smiled pleasantly and 
said he would cure me in less than five minutes. "If 
you do I will give you fifty dollars," said I quickly. 
"I would not take your money under any circum- 
stances," said he, "but I shall demand that you ac- 
knowledge the fact that I cured you." "Franklin," 
said I, "if you will cure me, or make me believe that I 
have no pain, I will gladly publish it to the world." 

And here let me say that after twenty-eight years' 
delay I am just now fulfilling that promise. It is a 
poor paymaster that withholds the payment of a debt 
like that so long, but I am glad to be able to fulfil that 
promise even at this late day. 



52 A 1 t I IKK LIKE DEMONSTRATED. 

I had made light of my brother's power to cure peo- 
ple by "rubbing them," and he was sensitive to my 
unjust criticism and unreasonable skepticism. I was 
not a Spiritualist at that time, and was simply ignorant 
regarding such matters, yet I knew of many remark- 
able cures my brother had made. As I look at it now. 
I am amazed at my own stupidity in dealing with the 
matter. But my extreme pain became my benefactor. 
At that particular moment I was in need of help. My 
pain had humiliated me to that extent that I was will- 
ing to test my brother's powers, and if possible to be 
cured in this, to me at that time, "irregular" and 
strange way. 

My brother wet his hands, placed his right one on 
my forehead, his left on the back of my neck, held 
them there perhaps half a minute, then let go and 
passed his hands quickly down the length of my back 
without touching me. This caused me to gasp for 
breath. It shocked me all over. He did this three or 
four times, then stepped in front of me and asked : 
"How is your headache now?" "Wait a minute," said 
I ; "let me feel of myself." After a little I said : "Frank, 
I can see clear." (Dark spots had been dancing before 
my eyes and I could not see clearly.) He repeated the 
passes down my back two or three times more, the ef- 
fect being the same as before, and then said: "Now 
how do you feel?" I said: "Frank, I have no pain 
whatever. It is all gone, but there is a little place over 
my right eye that feels sore." He drew his fingers 
across that spot three or four times and walked away, 
saying: "Your headache is cured, and you will never 
have it again." 

I sat perfectly still for a little time, fearing that the 
pain would return. I then stepped to the window, and 
I could see everything clearly ; my pain was entirely 
gone. I felt like shouting, but dared not do it for fear 
the pain would return. My brother, as it seemed to 
me, had performed a miracle; I was cured. I was so 
happy and so thankful for it. And now, after twenty- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 53 

eight years have passed, I am glad to report that the 
cure was permanent, for I have never had an attack of 
"sick headache" since that night of suffering. 

"They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall re- 
cover." — Jesns (Mark, 16th chapter, 17th verse). 

The Medical Fraternity Should Study Magnetic 
and Spiritual Healing. 

Why does not the medical fraternity of this country 
take up the science of magnetic and spiritual healing? 
Many individual physicians do practice it, but why do 
not the medical colleges investigate the subject, learn 
its value and then teach it to their students ? It would 
look much better, and be far more to their credit, be- 
sides relieving and curing thousands of suffering hu- 
man beings. It would give the people more confidence 
in the honesty and ability of the doctors than it does 
for them to be constantly presenting bills to our legis- 
latures with the purpose of prohibiting its practice. 

There are thousands in this land who have this 
power to heal, many of whom are not yet aware of the 
fact. There are other thousands who know they have 
it, but dare not practice it for fear of these doctors' 
laws, which in some states make it a crime or misde- 
meanor to relieve the suffering and cure the sick by 
such "irregular" methods. There are many other 
thousands who have been cured of various diseases 
and saved from death and the grave by the bare hands 
of the comparatively few courageous magnetic and 
spiritual healers, as well as by the medical clairvoyants 
who would not be driven from the field by the arrogant 
M. D's. Many have been thus cured even after the 
"Regulars" had given them up to die. There are thou- 
sands more that are enduring untold suffering year 
after year, who might be cured by this most natural 
process, and who would be cured by it if they were 
allowed the right granted to every American citizen 
by the Constitution of the United States, namely, the 



54 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED, 

right to employ the physician of their choice. When, 
oil when! will the world awaken and justice reign? 

Written Pellets Answered. 

On the third Sunday in November, 1881, at a meet- 
ing held at Henry Brown's home in Evans, N. Y., I 
was placed under influence and answered several writ- 
ten questions as they were placed upon my forehead. 
I did not know what was written on these papers. 
Among the questions was one by Mrs. Higley which 
read as follows: "Which of my children is here?" 
When it was placed upon my forehead, I heard a spirit 
voice saying: "Joeie," "Joeie." I repeated the name, 
and Mrs. Higley said that was the name of one of her 
children in spirit life. 

A niece of Mr. Brown's, who was attending high 
school in Angola, N. Y., wrote a question asking if 
she had passed in her examination at school the day 
before. We described a man and said : "He now puts 
his hand upon your head and looking into your face 
pleasantly says : 'No, my child.' He is not your father, 
though he uses the familiar words, 'My child.' ' A 
lady sitting near said : "Mr. Sprague, you have de- 
scribed the principal of her school perfectly." The 
young lady then said : "I cannot tell you whether the 
question is correctly answered or not." Up to this 
time I had no knowledge of what the lady had written. 
I had never met her before, nor the lady who said I 
had described the principal of the school. 

At a later meeting, the young lady told me that I 
had answered her question correctly ; that she did not 
pass the examination. 

Mrs. Hawkins' Great Affliction Results in Develop- 
ment of Her Mediumship. 

In the summer of 1881 Willie Hawkins, of Albion, 
Cataraugus County, N. Y., was drowned, as has been 
previously mentioned. His parents were grief-stricken 
and his mother was prostrated. Willie was sixteen years 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 55 

of age and a lovely boy. One month after his death 
Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins, with their one remaining little 
boy, made a visit to North Collins, their former home, 
and accidentally, or by the will of the spirit friends, 
they became members of the first seance we ever held 
in our house, as mentioned in Chapter II of this book. 
At that time Willie came to them in a way that was 
entirely satisfactory to them, which of course was a 
great comfort in their hour of deep sorrow; but Mrs. 
Hawkins' grief seemed too great to be removed. The 
poor woman would sit for hours without uttering a 
word unless some one spoke to her, and then some- 
times we had to speak several times before she would 
seem to hear, when she would say: "Were you speak- 
ing to me?" At times she seemed oblivious to what 
was going on around her, and it was hard to keep her 
interested in a conversation. She was the saddest and 
most dejected person I ever knew. We were all afraid 
she would become a victim of melancholy insanity, and 
she undoubtedly would if it had not been for Spiritual- 
ism and her own mediumship, as the sequel will show. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins went back to their home a 
few days after this first seance mentioned above, and 
a short time afterward a fire swept away their only 
possessions, a large saw-mill, heading factory, lath, 
stave factory, etc. They had no insurance on the prop- 
erty, and were left penniless. 

Mr. Hawkins subsequently came to North Collins to 
work in a mill, leaving his wife and little boy alone in 
Albion. When we learned of this we were afraid that 
if she were left there alone with only her little son for 
a companion that her great grief might unbalance her 
mind, so we invited them to make their home with us 
until they could get settled in one of their own in 
North Collins. They came. Poor Mrs. Hawkins had 
not improved since we saw her last. The loss of their 
property and business was an added trouble to her al- 
ready overburdened spirit. She was a pitiable creature 
of adversity. We tried to cheer her, and did what we 



56 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

could to divert her attention from her great trouble, 
but there was nothing that interested her excepting the 
evening seances that we were holding. At these she 
became greatly animated, and was more like her old 
self; when she received messages from Willie she was 
delighted, and would retire for the night feeling quite 
cheerful ; but in the morning she would rise to go 
through a day of dreaded gloom. For a long time she 
never smiled. Words fail to describe the condition of 
this dear woman in her deep sorrow. 

After a time Mr. Hawkins procured a house in 
town and they went to housekeeping. They continued 
to attend our circles, and one evening, to the surprise 
of all, Mrs. Hawkins was controlled and improvised 
and sang a song. It was beautiful, and came as a mes- 
sage from Willie to his beloved mother. I cannot re- 
strain the tears as I write. The memory of that mes- 
sage and the saintly appearance of that grief-stricken 
little woman in black, her sweet face aglow with a new 
light as the rhythmic words of love poured forth from 
her inspired lips in sweetest song, seemingly coming 
from the very fountain-source of heaven, were an in- 
spiration and a blessing never to be forgotten. Every- 
body wept while witnessing this manifestation. O, 
this beautiful Spirit communion ! I wish all the world 
could know and receive its blessing. 
"There's no spot in this wide world to me that's so 

sweet 
As the place where the angels with earth's children 

meet." 
Mrs. Hawkins sat in the seances several times after 
this without receiving any further demonstration of 
her mediumship. But one day when her husband had 
gone to his work, and her little son Neddie had gone 
to school, Mrs. Hawkins being left alone, she was 
placed under spirit control, losing consciousness from 
11 :30 a. m. until 4 o'clock p. m. When she came to 
consciousness she found a long poem written upon 
slips of paper lying on the table and upon two slates 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 57 

that were supposed to have been left at the house in 
Albion where they formerly lived. The North Collins 
home had been searched for these slates previous to 
this experience, and they could not be found. The 
poem purported to come from Willie, and was a loving- 
message to his mother. This poem was not the last 
one received through the mediumship of Mrs. Haw- 
kins. She gradually developed into one of the finest 
mediums and was blessed with frequent messages from 
her darling boy. His presence with her as a spirit 
soon overcame her despondent condition and brought 
back her health and former cheerfulness.. 

Spiritualism and the practice of mediumship saved 
this dear woman's reason and brought untold comfort 
and blessings to this unfortunate household. It has 
done the same to many others who were privileged to 
receive messages from their spirit loved ones through 
this well-tuned instrument of the spirit world. Me- 
diumship saved her from a dreadful fate, and this is 
another positive refutation of the absurd claims of the 
author of "The Great Psychological Crime," and of the 
advocates of the doctrine of "The Dangers of Psy- 
chism." 



CHAPTER VII. 

Andrew Payn Joins Our Spirit Band — "Uncle Jake" 
Did not Know that He Was Dead. 

Andrew Payn Joins our Spirit Band. 

One evening in the spring of 1882 at one of our 
developing circles I was controled by a strange 
influence. My eyes were closed as usual. I was 
conscious of what was passing, but was helpless 
to control my actions. I arose slowly under this 
strange influence and pointing with my finger was 



\ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED, 

led to say: "Behold a beautiful city." I then pro- 
ceeded to describe its towers and domes, its ca- 
thedrals, hills, etc. I saw the city and everything 
to which the spirit called the attention of the 
circle, and much more was made clear to my 
vision. This spirit described a beautiful church or 
cathedral and said: "Let us enter it." We seemed 
to enter it and described what we saw as we went 
along. On entering the vestibule we turned to the 
right and were led through halls and winding 
passageways, and finally down a spiral stairway 
until we stood in a semi-darkened place with walls 
of stone all around us. The spirit then said : "Look 
upon this room. The walls are of solid masonry. 
The ceilings arched with stone. The floor is of 
stone and all cemented together. Behold a man 
middle aged, with long black hair hanging loosely 
over his shoulders ; his long black whiskers un- 
kempt ; his features almost hidden by the growth 
of hair which reaches nearly to his large black 
eyes, which have become almost expressionless 
from lack of contact with the light and from his 
long suffering in confinement. Notice the large 
iron ring fastened with a staple to the stone floor. 
See the shackles upon his ankles, the short chain 
coupled to the iron bands and passing through the 
iron ring between his feet. See also the iron bands 
and chain upon his wrists. See him manacled and 
chained in this dungeon, dire, dark, damp, alone ! 
alone ! No friend to cheer ; no one to encourage 
or pity ; no hope. Alone ! alone ! long weary years 
of solitude and pain he suffered, and all for opin- 
ion's sake, until at last, after long delay, the wel- 
come messenger of death freed his poor, weak 
spirit from its mortal shackles and it took its 
flight to its heavenly home. That man stands be- 
fore you ; it is he who speaks to you this night," 

When these words were spoken a shock went 
over my whole system, almost depriving me of my 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 59 

breath and I fell back into a chair weeping and 
sobbing. Directly the influence left me and the 
seance was over. This dear spirit came a second 
time, but we elicited no further information from 
him until we went to Lily Dale Campmeeting at 
Cassadaga, N. Y., the following August. It was 
at this campmeeting that we first met Mr. D. A. 
Herrick, now a well-known medium. He was at 
that time a young man and was used by the spirits 
to make crayon pictures. 

Airs. Sprague and I arranged for a sitting with 
him, but did not get the picture we wished for. A 
picture of one we did not know was made, and 
when it was finished, the spirit-artist controlling 
Air. Herrick told us there were others present who 
would like us to have their pictures, but this one 
would be of great value to us in the future, and it 
was thought best to give him the preference. Mr. 
Herrick came out of the trance, but was suddenly 
controlled by another spirit and wrote as follows : 
"This is my picture. My name is Andrew Payn. 
Sit at home next Wednesday night and I will 
come and tell you all about the prison and other 
matters." Air. Herrick could hardly have known 
anything about this spirit and the prison. We 
were anxious for the coming of the next Wednes- 
day evening, as we w r ished to see what it would 
bring. 

When the time came we held our circle and this 
dear spirit came and talked to us. He told us that 
the reason why he wept when he controlled me 
was because his last years of earth life were spent 
in weeping. While he was confined in the dun- 
geon, he became broken in spirit, and when 
controlling me he could not help taking on 
his old conditions. Though he had been in 
spirit life nearly two hundred years and had 
long since outgrown his earthly conditions in 
that realm, yet when on the earth plane using 



t.H A FUTURE LTFE DEMONSTRATED. 

the earthly conditions, he was obliged to take upon 
himself the conditions of the earthly environment 
and begin just where he had laid them down so 
many years before, in a measure living over again 
the unpleasant conditions that caused his transi- 
tion. He assured us, however, that he would be 
able to outgrow and overcome them by coming to 
me often, and that while doing so he would help 
to develop my mediumship. This spirit told us 
that he was an Episcopal priest and suffered this 
martyrdom because of his liberal views. Much 
more he told us at this interesting seance. 

After this he came often. For a long time he 
wept and prayed when he first came. Mrs. 
Sprague became very tired of this manifestation 
and one evening she asked our spirit teacher, E. 
V. Wilson, if it was necessary for that spirit to 
come so often and do so much crying and praying? 
He said: "Lady, I hope you w r ill help him all you 
can. He is a noble and bright spirit. We need 
him to help complete this medium's band. When 
he has outgrown the conditions you mention, he 
will be a wonderful help in the work of both your 
bands and you will all love him and appreciate his 
good work. His experience in earth life will be of 
great benefit to this medium and to the world 
through his mediumship." 

This prophecy has been fulfilled so far as it re- 
lates to us, and if the truths of Spiritualism as 
voiced through us have been of value to the world 
it has all been fulfilled. This spirit communicated 
nearly every evening. He improved slowly in his 
ability to control me without weeping, but it was 
nearly a year before he was entirely able to con- 
trol me without taking on these unpleasant con- 
ditions. As he improved he began to improvise or 
speak in rhyme. Occasionally he would improvise 
a poem upon subjects, words or sentences given 
by the sitters. His lovely teachings, his bright- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 61 

ness of mind, the intelligent and earnest manner 
in which he discussed all questions, and his gentle- 
ness of spirit caused us all to love him. 

During the summer of 1883 he wrote, through 
my hand, some reminiscences of his earthly life, 
showing some of the terrible persecutions, pain and 
suffering he endured. This writing also shows the 
intolerance of the church of that early day. While 
writing this, my hand moved rapidly. I seemed 
to live right in the scenes that he portrayed in this 
wonderful story of his persecution, trial and con- 
viction, and the tears would flow down my cheeks, 
wetting the paper upon which I was writing. 
Some day I may publish this story of his suffer- 
ings. This spirit has influenced, and at times con- 
trolled me, to delever many lectures during the 
active years of our work for humanity. We have 
been and are still being greatly blessed by this 
noble and faithful spirit teacher. Heaven has 
richly rewarded us for all our efforts in behalf of 
the great movement of Modern Spiritualism. 

"Uncle Jake" did not Know that He Was Dead. 

One evening in the winter of 1881-82, Mrs. 
Sprague and I had been to hear Dr. J. M. Peebles 
lecture on his travels around the world, and were 
on our way home when Mrs. Sprague suggested 
that we go down to Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins' for a 
little while. I reminded her that it was then nine 
o'clock and a pretty late hour to make a call. She 
said she felt that we must go, and we went. 

On entering the house we discovered that they 
had been holding a seance, and they asked us to 
sit with them in another one. We discouraged it 
on account of the lateness of the hour, but were 
finally persuaded to sit around the table with them. 
At once I passed under control. A spirit who said 
he was Mrs. Hawkins' Uncle Jake entranced me 
and spoke to them, using many odd expressions 



63 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

and sayings peculiar to himself. His individuality 
was most perfectly manifested we were told at the 
close of the seance. 

Now comes the strange part of this experience. 
Uncle Jake apparently did not know that he was 
dead — that he had passed through the change 
called death. He declared that he was not dead — ■ 
that he had not died. He said that Willie (Willie 
was Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins' spirit boy) had been 
telling him that he was dead, and had tried to have 
him go where spirits talk to mortals, and laughing 
he said: "I think they are all crazy. Finally/' 
said he, "an old Indian came and persuaded me to 
come here, and here I am." 

He talked about the farm, and friends at home, 
told how they had all turned against him and were 
running things their own way. He said they had' 
paid no attention to him for a long time, that they 
had the "big head" so badly that they would not 
speak to him or notice him in the least. He men- 
tioned several names of those in the body and 
others in the spirit, not seeming to realize that 
there were two states of existence. In mentioning 
several of his friends about his farm and home, and 
in speaking of things connected with them and the 
farm, he did not seem to realize the changes that 
had taken place since his death. He had been six 
years in spirit life. 

As explanations were made to him regarding 
his death and his attention called to the fact that 
he was controlling my organism, he looked me 
over curiously and seemed nonplussed. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hawkins explained to him that he was speak- 
ing through me, and after a time the fact seemed 
to gradually dawn upon him. He asked many 
questions and seemed delighted when he began to 
understand the situation. To him it was a revela- 
tion like arousing from a fitful and troublesome 
dream and coming to consciusness on a beautiful, 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 63 

sunshiny morning. Uncle Jake was happy and 
manifested a desire to remain, even after our spirit 
attendants thought best to take him away. 

When he had left me, an old Indian chief took 
control, saying: "Me bring white chief, ha! ha! 
Me big chief. Willie brave tell me get Jake chief 
come. Me happy. Jake chief happy. W r illie brave 
happy too ; all happy, all happy. Good-bye," and 
he was gone. I was myself again, none the worse, 
but feeling better for the experience. This Indian 
spirit was apparently overjoyed at his success in 
bringing Uncle Jake out of his darkened condition 
into the light. At the close of the seance Mr. and 
Mrs. Hawkins told us that "Uncle Jake" was a 
rank materialist ; that he was one of those men 
who positively knew that death ended all; that he 
often expressed himself as follows : "When a man 
is dead, he is as dead as an old dog." Uncle Jake 
was a very positive man and an eccentric charac- 
ter. Xow comes the proof of the genuineness of 
this manifestation. 

As before stated, the Hawkins' people had just 
concluded a circle when we arrived at their home. 
Willie Hawkins — Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins' spirit 
boy — had been controlling his mother and talking 
to his father, and telling him that "Uncle Jake" 
did not know that he was dead, saying: "Grandpa, 
grandma and I have, tried every way we could to 
get him to come to these circles, but he only 
laughs at us and says we are fools. We have 
talked to him and tried to persuade him to come, 
but he will not reason at all. He says we are all 
crazy. I have about given up all hope, he is so 
stubborn, but I have interested an old Indian in 
him now, and if he doesn't bring him I shall give 
it up." 

Xow, kind reader, let us look at the facts in this 
case. 



64 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

First, 1 had no knowledge of the fact that such 
a person as "Uncle Jake" had ever existed. 

Second. I did not know of the conversation that 
had been held between Mr. Hawkins and his spirit 
son Willie through Mrs. Hawkins. 

Third. Not knowing that there had ever lived 
such a person as Uncle Jake, (a) I could not have 
known of his belief that death was the end, (b) or 
that he had a farm home, (c) or that Willie had 
been trying to get him to come to the circles, as 
he had told his father through Mrs. Hawkins; (d) 
or that Willie had said that he had sent an Indian 
after him. 

Fourth. Uncle Jake conversed about his busi- 
ness through me and talked of those in earth-life 
that I had never known or heard of, calling several 
of them by name. 

Fifth. He used his own peculiar and odd ex- 
pressions of language which were strange to me, 
but evidences of identity to the members of the 
Hawkins' family who were familiar with them, 
having heard Uncle Jake use them for years. 

Now, dear reader, it will make no difference 
what you or I believe regarding this experience. 
Here are some facts that need explanation. I 
have briefly related just what occurred without the 
least color or bias. I am in hopes that this may 
aid in bringing out more facts relative to the con- 
dition of things in the spirit world. When Galileo, 
by Christian authority, was made to retract his 
published statement that the world is round and 
turns on its axis, it is said that on turning away 
he stamped his foot and said: "The world turns 
round the same." And so it does. The world has 
kept on turning ever since, notwithstanding the 
fact that the same church that pronounced such 
doctrine heresy, and persecuted Galileo and others 
for teaching it, opposed it for two hundred and 
fifty years after it had been scientifically demons- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 65 

trated. And so it is with every fact in the uni- 
verse. It matters not whether we accept or reject 
it, each fact remains the same. 

The explanation given by our spirit friends re- 
garding Uncle Jake's belief that he was not dead, 
briefly stated, is as follows : Uncle Jake's case was 
one of mental derangement. He was a mono- 
maniac upon the subject of Materialism. He be- 
came so certain that death was the end of exist- 
ence that he would listen to no argument upon the 
subject while in earth life. He said he knew there 
was no life after death. This monomania he car- 
ried with him into spirit life. It is a case of in- 
sanity on one subject, and Uncle Jake's derange- 
ment was cured by his being brought in contact 
with the spirit seance, just as thousands of spirits 
and mortals have been healed. 

Uncle Jake was one of the "spirits in prison" 
similar, no doubt, to those to whom Jesus preached. 
(See 1 Peter, iii, 19: "By which also he went and 
preached to the spirits in prison" ; also 1 Peter, iv, 
6 : "For, for this cause was the gospel preached to 
them that are dead.") 

May it not be possible that the spirits of Willie 
Hawkins, his grandfather and grandmother, as 
well as the good and faithful spirit of the Indian 
"Me-wa-ga-nee," were preaching and ministering 
to this "spirit in prison" — the spirit of "Uncle 
Jake"? I believe it. It is more than a possibility; 
it is the truth. 



66 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Neddie Hawkins' Illness — Wonderful Spirit-Heal- 
ing — Spirit of John Schwartz Manifests — Proph- 
ecy of an Instrument to See Spirits. 

Neddie Hawkins' Illness. 

In the summer of 1882 the eleven-year-old son 
of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hawkins was very sick 
with scarlet fever. The family and friends became 
much concerned about him. He failed rapidly and 
finally had spells of sinking away, apparently into 
an unconscious condition. Finally, to all appear- 
ance, he stopped breathing and lay motionless as 
though he were dead. 

Mrs. Hawkins was in a terrible state of mind. 
She had lost one boy less than a year before, and 
little Neddie was her all. Of course, the thought 
of losing him was agonizing to her. She walked 
the floor in agony of soul, wringing her hands and 
crying out to her spirit friends, asking them to 
save her boy, her darling 'boy. 

Mrs. Sprague, influenced by her spirit friends, 
was trying to pacify her with the assurance that 
Neddie was not going to pass away ; that the spirit 
friends were going to save him ; that he was not 
dying, but would recover to bless her remaining 
days. 

Mr. Hawkins sat by the bedside watching the 
child. The only indication of life perceptible, Mr. 
Hawkins afterwards told us, was when he put out 
his hand to touch the child; each time Neddie's 
little arm would rise and push his hand away. 

After two long and weary hours of watching, 
the boy's eyes opened, he looked about the room 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 07 

in apparent surprise, and to the astonishment of 
all he called out, in a strong voice, "Mamma, come 
here!" which brought the mother quickly to his 
side. Before these sinking spells came upon the 
boy he was so weak that he could not speak above 
a whisper. 

They stood around his bed while the child related 
his experience. Said he : "Mamma, I have been 
to heaven, and have seen Willie. I thought 
I went up through a box car, and when I got on 
the top of it I looked back and I had come out of 
the top of my head. O, Mamma ! it was the prettiest 
place I ever saw ; everything was so bright and 
beautiful. Willie came running towards me, and 
I started to meet him, when an old Indian came 
and put me right back into my body, when I 
wanted to stay and see Willie." 

Whatever may be said, these facts remain. 
From that moment little Neddie grew stronger. 
He had no more sinking spells. The next day he 
arose, walked across the floor and sat awhile in a 
chair. In three or four days he was able to be 
up and about the house all day, and soon he was 
as well and strong as ever. 

My Strange Experience. 

At the very time that Neddie was having these 
sinking spells of which I have spoken, I was eight 
miles distant from him and knew nothing of his 
condition. I simply knew that he was sick, but 
did not suppose that he was dangerously ill. 

I was taking dinner with a friend when a 
strange impulse came over me impelling me home- 
ward. It was so intense that I could hardly re- 
sist it until the meal w r as over. Just as soon as I 
could do so without attracting special attention I 
excused myself, left the table, hitched my horse 
to the buggy and started for home. I drove so 
fast that I am sure I must have attracted the 



68 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

attention oi those I passed on the road. It seemed 
that I could not go fast enough. I had no idea 
why 1 was in such a hurry. I received no impres- 
sion regarding the matter, but on I went with the 
one thought uppermost, I must get home. After 
I had left about five miles behind me the strange 
desire to get home left me. I slackened my 
speed and finally stopped at the house of a friend 
and remained so long that I did not get home 
until five o'clock P. M., at which time the facts 
stated above were told to me, and also that little 
Neddie had come out of the trance, or sinking- 
spell, and had returned to his normal condition 
at the exact time that the strange influence left me. 

We were afterwards told by the spirit friends 
that they (the spirits) drew from me the vital 
forces to help supply the needed vitality to 
strengthen little Neddie's body, and that the Indian 
spirit Me-wa-ga-nee, who was one of the "familiar 
spirits" of our seances, took control of the sick 
child's body and magnetized it, eliminating the 
disease and filling it with new vitality. We were 
also informed that it was he that caused Neddie's 
hand to be lifted to push the father's arm away 
whenever he attempted to touch the boy's face, 
as in doing so he might spoil the conditions which 
were being used to heal the child. 

Our spirit friends operate in what sometimes 
seems to us to be strange ways. They are strange 
only so far as we are ignorant of the laws gov- 
erning spirit intercourse. 

The fact that Neddie was but eleven years old, 
and of his extraordinary recovery from such a 
severe and often fatal illness, which in all prob- 
ability would have caused his transition if it had 
not been for the timely aid of the spirit-friends, 
should have some weight with the honest investi- 
gator, and give encouragement to the Spiritualists 
in their work for the truth. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 69 

We were told by the spirit-friends that the 
harmonious relations existing between the Haw- 
kins family and ours, and the conditions made by 
us in holding regular circles together, had made 
the strong battery necessary, which was used by 
them in saving little Neddie's life. Verily, the 
evidence of a continued life, of the return of spir- 
its and their power for good, increases constantly. 
How thankful we Spiritualists should be for these 
heavenly blessings which come with unstinted 
measure. 

Spirit of John Schwartz Manifests. 

One evening in the spring of 1882 Mr. and Mrs. 
Schanbacher — neighbors of ours — attended their 
first circle at our house. When the circle was 
formed, Mrs. Schanbacher's spirit father, John 
Schwartz, came and controlled me. He could not 
speak at first, but such determination as he mani- 
fested I have never experienced with any other 
spirit. I knew nothing whatever of this spirit. I 
had never heard of such a person. Under his in- 
fluence my head seemed to be in a terrible condi- 
tion. My spirit helpers soon took him away, and 
after explaining the case and giving me renewed 
strength, they assured us that they would take 
good care of me, and that in letting him come 
we were giving him the greatest benefit and it 
would result in much good to us all. This proved 
true, as the sequel will show. 

Mr. Schwartz came again and seemed deter- 
mined to speak. He seemed greatly excited, 
pounded the table with my hands and cried 
while apparently struggling to speak. By some 
Spiritualists of today he would have been called 
an "evil spirit," but nothing could be further from 
the truth. With tears running down my cheeks, 
and after several attempts to speak, he made out 



7t) A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

to say a few words. To the surprise of all they 
were spoken in German. Weeping and sobbing, 
this dear spirit told his beloved daughter that he 
was not in hell. (The poor man had committed 
suicide by shooting himself, and the Catholic 
church could not let a suicide abide in any other 
place.) His message that evening was to his wife 
and two daughters. As stated, he said that he was 
not in hell, that he was not even dead, and that 
he had come to get relief from the terrible condi- 
tion which was caused by his rash act; that he 
had caused his loved ones much suffering, and he 
wished them to cease grieving for him. He was 
quite calm at times but would become greatly 
excited when talking of his being sent to hell, and 
of his body being buried outside of the conse- 
crated grounds. Every time he spoke of the sad 
affair of having taken his own life, he would burst 
into tears and appeared to suffer the agonies of 
remorse. My experience as his medium is enough 
for me. I realized a little of what the poor soul 
suffered, but my words are too weak to express 
what I felt of this unfortunate spirit's suffering. 

His communication was all given in the German 
language, and I could not speak German or under- 
stand it. I knew nothing of what had been said 
until it was told to me by these good people 
after the seance was over. 

Mr. and Mrs. Schanbacher were very much af- 
fected by- this experience. When Mrs. Schan- 
bacher told her mother, Mrs. Schwartz, about it, 
Mrs. Schwartz expressed a desire to attend one 
of our meetings and the next evening they brought 
the dear old lady with them. Mr. Schwartz came 
and controlled me again, but, strange as it may 
seem to some, he could not speak to his wife. He 
would resolutely grasp her hand and attempt to 
speak, but would break down and sob and cry. 

Mrs. Schwartz asked him many questions, all 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 71 

in the German language, which he answered only 
by bowing or shaking my head. Later Mrs. 
Schwartz came to the circle again and her spirit 
husband succeeded in talking to her in the Ger- 
man language. This spirit never spoke a word of 
English through my lips so far as I know, but his 
daughter says he could speak English in a broken 
manner, though he never would do it when he 
could be understood by speaking German. 

At her second sitting Mrs. Schwartz received 
much satisfaction and went home happy; but on 
telling a neighbor, a lady who was a Catholic, 
about it, she was told that it was all the works of 
the devil, and that she would lose her soul if she 
did not turn away from it. This worried the poor 
woman, and she became alarmed ; the more she 
thought about the matter the more she suffered, 
and after days and nights of mental anguish she 
traveled six miles on foot to make confession to 
her priest. For some time thereafter she would 
have nothing to do with Spiritualism ; but finally 
she became seriously ill. The doctors did not 
seem to understand her case, and she grew worse 
from day to day; finally she asked for help from 
the spirit friends and our dear Indian spirit "Old 
Doctor" cured her right away. From that time 
she has been a good Spiritualist and nothing could 
change her belief. 

Following these experiences were others which 
I cannot record here, many of which were as won- 
derful as they were satisfactory. One day, perhaps 
two years later, Mr. and Mrs. Schanbacher, Mrs. 
Schwartz and Mr. Frank Schanbacher visited us 
in our little farm-home in Evans, N. Y., at which 
time a circle was formed and I became entranced. 
Mr. Schwartz spoke through my lips in the Ger- 
man language for more than an hour, carrying on 
a conversation with the four persons named above, 
giving advice, answering questions, etc., as they 



72 A FUTURE 1.1 V\: DEMONSTRATED. 

afterwards told us. They also told us that he 
requested that his body be removed from the 
Catholic cemetery at Langford to the Protestant 
cemetery at North Collins; that he was indignant 
because his people were not allowed to place his 
body in the lot which his own money had paid for, 
and said he did not feel right to have it left where 
it was then lying, which was just outside of the 
"consecrated" grounds. His body was not allowed 
to be buried on the lot in the "consecrated" 
grounds because he had committed suicide. Sub- 
sequently his body was removed to the Protestant 
cemetery at North Collins ; his request was thus 
fulfilled and his spirit satisfied. 

At the close of the seance mentioned above, I 
left the room for a few moments and on my re- 
turn all were talking animatedly of the seance 
excepting Grandma Schwartz. She was sitting 
by herself in a corner of the room looking stead- 
ily at the floor, apparently absorbed in thought. 
As I approached she looked up and said : "Mr. 
Sprague, I want to thank you for what you have 
done for me today." I assured her that she was 
quite welcome, and asked : "Did it seem like your 
husband .talking to you through me, Mrs. 
Schwartz?" The dear woman looked at me and 
tears stood in her eyes as she said : "O, Mr. 
Sprague, that was he; that was my John; yes, that 
was my John. Every word, every motion, the 
voice and all were the same as when he was here ; 
and you never saw him, and you cannot speak 
German. It was so good, Mr. Sprague." 

As I looked into that kindly face and heard 
those earnest words as they came from the heart 
of that noble woman I felt once more the grandeur 
of our beautiful religion, and resolved anew to do 
all in my power to spread its gospel far and wide. 

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost 
(Spirit Power) and began to speak in other 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 73 

tongues as the spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 
h, 4.) 

Some two years later Mrs. Schanbacher came to 
our house, on purpose, as she said, to tell us that 
the last prophecy her father made through my me- 
diumship had come to pass ; that he talked of a 
lawsuit against his estate which had been in the 
courts a number of years, and that he had foretold 
the outcome of the suit ; that their lawyer had 
just told her the final result, which was exactly as 
her father had told them through my mediumship 
at the seance mentioned above, and it was correct 
to a dollar. This is another valuable fact to be 
considered. Mrs. Schanbacher often wrote ques- 
tions in the German language and brought them 
to the circle and her spirit father invariably an- 
swered them correctly through my mediumship, 
Though I knew nothing of their contents. 

I am informed by those who were the personal 
friends of Mr. John Schwartz that he was a 
genial and generous man ; that he was honest and 
true, kind, loving and high spirited ; that he was 
driven to self-destruction by intemperance ; that 
drinking was his greatest weakness and that he 
was under the influence of liquor when he com- 
mitted the terrible act. 

His daughter, Mrs. Schanbacher, told me that 
when her father died, her mother, sister Carrie 
and herself were Catholics ; that they sometimes 
talked of her father's probable future state ; that 
they had been taught to accept the doctrine of the 
church that he was in hell, but that she sometimes 
rebelled against such teachings, and said things 
that shocked her mother and sister; that on sev- 
eral occasions she became excited over the matter 
and cried out, saying: "Oh Mother! I can't endure 
it! I will not stand it! T don't care; if God has 
sent my poor father to hell, I am going there too. 



, 1 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

I can stand it if father can, and I will not forsake 
him," etc. 

This sensitive daughter loved her father as only 
a sensitive and true soul can love a parent. That 
horrible, barbarous doctrine of the church which 
emanated from the brains of ignorant men of a primi- 
tive age, namely: the doctrine of "Hell Fire" and 
"'Eternal Punishment," almost wrecked and ruined 
her life and the lives of the rest of that family. 

Such doctrines and teachings are loathsome and 
despicable, and every self-respecting humanitarian, 
who has not been swallowed up by a belief in 
them, should protest against them, and especially 
against their being taught to innocent little chil- 
dren. Let Spiritualists continue to herald the 
beautiful truths of the Spiritual Philosophy to all 
the world until all people are free from these ter- 
rible superstitions and barbarous beliefs. That 
noble and good spirit, John Schwartz, became one 
of my spirit band of helpers, and a true and faith- 
ful one is he. 

All Become Mediums. 

The first time Mr. Schwartz controlled me, Mary 
— his daughter — asked him if he could not come 
to her in her own home. He said he could, and 
told her to sit with her hands on the table thirty 
minutes and he would rap for her to prove that he 
was with her. Next day she did so and just as 
the thirty minutes expired there came a big rap 
under her hands which lifted them from the table, 
and she cried out, "O father! now I know that 
you are with me." What a blessing and comfort 
this corroborative proof was to this suffering 
daughter! This was Mrs. Schanbacher's first ex- 
perience as a medium. Her splendid mediumship 
which developed later was a blessing to her many 
friends, and helped to work wonders in removing 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 75 

her mother's religious prejudices. It has brought 
innumerable blessings to that dear old mother in 
these closing days of her earthly life. Mr. Schan- 
bacher also became a medium and splendid healer. 
He has cured many people, and is still practicing 
his mediumship with excellent success. 

Miss Lina Schanbacher, their lovely daughter, 
is a graduate of the Morris Pratt Institute, White- 
water, Wis., Class of 1908. She is now prepared 
for the Spiritualist rostrum. She was born a me- 
dium and raised a Spiritualist, and with her band 
of efficient spirit-helpers, one of whom is her 
grandfather, this same John Schwartz, she will 
take her place among the efficient workers in the 
fruitful field of modern Spiritualism and her voice 
will be heard throughout the length and breadth 
of the land. 

"For our gospel came not unto you in word 
only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost 
(Spirit-Power) and in much assurance." (Thes. 
lst-5th.) 

Prophecy of an Instrument to See Spirits. 

Sometime in the spring of 1882 Andrew Payn, 
one of my spirit-teachers, while holding me en- 
tranced, made some prophecies, one of which was 
that we on earth would soon be able to navigate 
the air, steering the airship against the wind, sail- 
ing away and alighting at will, and that such 
method of travel would become popular and suc- 
cessful very soon. 

The second prophecy was that mortals would 
soon discover an instrument and a method of its 
use by which we could communicate with our 
friends anywhere on earth at any time; that the 
instrument would be so small that it could be car- 
ried on the person and, though one was in the 
forest a long way from city or town, he could 



if! A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

send his message to the nearest station and it 
would be forwarded to its destination wherever it 
might be directed. 

He made other prophecies, but the most remark- 
able one was this : He said, "Man is about to dis- 
cover an instrument by which he may see the 
spirit-friends who are around him ; and that time 
is not far away." I must admit that some of these 
prophecies, though made through my own lips, seemed 
too wonderful to me to be true. But one morn- 
ing — I think it was in 1895 — while at breakfast in 
a Philadelphia hotel, a newspaper was handed to 
me, and the first thing that attracted my attention 
was the cut of a human hand with the bones vis- 
ible and the outline of the flesh also plain to be 
seen, though it appeared to be transparent. My 
curiosity was aroused and I read the account of 
the discovery of the Roentgen Ray. When I had 
finished the article I told Mrs. Sprague that if that 
reported discovery was not born in the brain of 
some newspaper reporter, but was a true state- 
ment of facts, then the prophecy of the spirit An- 
drew Payn as given through my lips is liable to 
become a living fact ere long. 

This report simply explained some of the results 
of the use of the X-Ray. I watched the papers 
with great interest until I was convinced that the 
Roentgen Ray was an established fact. I then be- 
came satisfied that this spirit prophecy would 
sometime be fulfilled. To be sure, it may be a 
long way off — no one can tell. But who dare say 
that the day is not near at hand when the power 
of the X-Ray, or some other similar instrument, 
yet to be discovered, may not be multiplied one 
thousand-fold? And who dare say that an increase 
in power of one hundred-fold would not make it 
strong enough to photograph spirit people, if such 
exist (and we know they do, if the reader does 
not), and thus reveal their presence to all who 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 77 

have physical eyesight? That day is coming, and 
when it does come there will be no materialists, 
because they can then see the spirit inhabitants for 
themselves, and will know this truth the same as 
they know any other fact in nature. 

In that day Science will not struggle so deter- 
minedly as it does today to disprove the truths of 
Spiritualism. Hudson's theory, together with the 
numerous other theoreis of the physical scientists, 
each of which conflicts with and contradicts all 
of the others, will be laid aside, and that class of 
men will then go at the investigation of Spiritual- 
ism with a desire to learn the truth. When they 
have discovered it, they, like many other scientists 
of today, will be as proud to tell the world of each 
new discovery or demonstration to prove the ex- 
istence of a spirit world as they now are to tell 
of a newly discovered planet, and none of them 
will be afraid that some one will scoff or discredit 
his ability as a scientist because of a favorable re- 
port on the subject of Modern Spiritualism. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Through Spirit Advice and Help Mrs. Nettle 
Brown Becomes a Fine Artist — Proof of Evo- 
lution in Spirit Life — Unborn Babe Develops 
Womanhood in Spirit Life — Twice Saved 
From Death by Spirit Power — Phenomena of 
Levitation — A Strong Test — The Tramp's 
Message (Verse). 



Nettie Brown's Mediumship. 

At a seance held at our home in Evans, N. Y., 
sometime in the fall or winter of 1882-3, Mr. 



. 8 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

George Brown, Mrs. Nettie Brown, and Mr. George 
Cook, 1 believe, Mrs. Sprague and myself being- 
present, one of our spirit helpers controlled me 
and told Mrs. Brown that she had talent as an 
artist which should be developed; that she would 
not need to go through the long years of study and 
practice that was usually required; but if she 
would take enough lessons to become familiar 
with the use of the brush and learn to mix the 
paints, the spirit friends would do the rest, and 
she would become an artist of ability. The spirit 
said that they could reach her through this phase 
of mediumship better than any other way. Mrs. 
Brown was delighted ; said she loved pictures and 
would be pleased to learn to make them. She 
promised the spirit that she would do everything 
in her power to fulfill his instructions. She knew 
nothing of her psychic power until informed by 
the spirit. 

She began her development of the art by taking 
three lessons only, and then went into a room by 
herself each day to practice. In a short time she 
was doing a thriving business painting pictures 
and giving lessons in painting. There has been a 
constant demand for her services in this capacity 
all of these passing years. The first time she en- 
tered her paintings to compete for the premiums 
at the county fair held at Hamburg, Erie County, N. 
Y., she entered them in the "Amateur" class, and 
without the knowledge of Mrs. Brown, the judges 
took them out and placed them with those in the 
"Professional" class and they won for her the 
first premium. She paints anything from a land- 
scape to a portrait and is successful in winning not 
only first prizes in the "Professional" class of art 
from year to year, but she has won the hearts, the 
appreciation and praise of her many friends. Thus 
the good spirits fulfill their promises when we ful- 
fill their wishes and instructions. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 79 

''But the manifestation of the spirit is given to 
every man to profit withal." (1st Cor. XII, 7.) 

Proof of Evolution in Spirit-Life — Unborn Babe 
Develops Womanhood. 

When first Mrs. Sprague and I became inter- 
ested in the development of our mediumship we 
took advantage of every opportunity to learn of 
Spiritualism. We attended Lily Dale campmeei- 
ing at Cassadaga, N. Y., where we visited me- 
diums for different phases, and wherever we went, 
whether it was to sit with private or public me- 
diums, a little babe was described and we were 
told that it belonged to us ; that, although it never 
saw the light in earth life, it lived and was grow- 
ing in spirit life. We had "lost" such a little one, 
but never having been taught that the spirits of 
the unborn continued to live, it was hard for us 
to understand it. But as proof after proof of its 
truth was given we came to accept it. 

Finally we had a seance with Charles E. Wat- 
kins, at Lily Dale, and received writings between 
two slates, a portion of which read as follows: 
"Dear Papa: My name is Lillie Sprague. Mamma 
named me long ago." This was the name chosen 
by Mrs. Sprague for the prospective little one. 
This slate writing was in answer to a question that 
I had written asking our little girl to choose a 
name for herself. 

Mrs. Sprague also received a message between 
slates in answer to one she had addressed to her 
spirit sister, inquiring if it was really true that 
she had a little one in spirit life. It read as fol- 
lows: "My dear sister, you certainly have a beau- 
tiful little daughter in spirit life. She is now about 
ten years old as you reckon time, and you will 
know and love her when you come to live with 
us." Signed : full name of sister. 



80 A l rTl'KK LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

\\ e both developed clairvoyance and have seen 
this beautiful spirit daughter from time to time, 
watching her development on that side of life. She 
has controlled her mamma occasionally, becoming 
better and better able to express herself, until she 
manifests as a beautiful spiritually developed 
young woman. We love her as our own daughter, 
which she is. The age of the child as written be- 
tween those two slates was correct; ten years had 
passed away since that little life had left its material 
body. 

I have mentioned only a few of the many proofs 
we received of the truth of this strange fact. Many 
others, just as strong, could be given that cannot 
be explained away; and the knowledge we both 
possess of the reality of her sweet presence is suf- 
ficient proof for us. We are thoroughly and truly 
convinced that evolution continues in spirit-life. 
How different some things in this world would be 
if every parent understood this beautiful truth of 
nature. 

Twice Saved From Death — Spirits Overcome Grav- 
itation — My Life Saved. 

There was an old, worn-out, tumble-down saw- 
mill on the back part of our little farm in Evans, 
N. Y., and I concluded to remove it. We were 
told by the spirit friends that there was danger of 
getting hurt and we had better not attempt it. The 
old mill was no ornament and I needed the roofing 
and lumber for other purposes, so I decided to 
tear it down, but to be very careful ; and I com- 
menced the work. One day while standing on the 
sill next to the bank (the mill was built in the 
creek and against the bank), using a crowbar in 
prying off some timbers above my head, I fell be- 
tween the bank and the sill, going down feet first, 
finding terra firma just as my head came under the 
sill upon which I had been standing. This hap- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 81 

pened just in time to save me from a falling tim- 
ber and a part of the roof which would have 
crushed me if I had remained standing on the 
sill. The spirit friends said that they pushed me 
off to save my life. 

I did no more work on the mill for a time, but 
finally one day I went at it again, this time with 
the determination that every precaution should be 
taken so that no accident should happen. I was 
tearing off the boards around the outside of the 
building and had them all removed but three. I 
had loosened these at the bottom and was on my 
knees on the sill, which was fifteen feet above the 
rocks below. I pried and shook the board but 
could not loosen it at the top. This board was 
right against a large post. I tried to discover what 
was holding the board but could see nothing, so 
renewed my efforts to shake it loose. At that mo- 
ment I was taken up bodily, carried and placed 
upon a plank four feet away, the only plank of that 
Moor that was left in that part of the mill. A con- 
straining influence held me as in a vice. I could 
not move forward as was my inclination, and a 
spirit voice said : "Hold ! Stand still !" There was 
a crashing of falling timbers all around me ; the 
air was full of dust. I looked up and there was 
nothing between me and the clear sky above my 
head. The heavy 18-inch square beech timber to 
which the old-fashioned "sash saw" had been at- 
tached, had rolled off the post from which I was 
trying to loosen the board. The tenon had rotted 
away and the 12-inch square hemlock plate, 30 
feet long, which lay upon the top of it, had swung 
around above my head and fallen across the six- 
inch girt which had entered the post four feel 
above the sill from which I had just been taken, 
smashing it down upon the sill where I was kneel- 
ing but a moment before, breaking the timber in 
two. one half falling to the rocks below while the 



83 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

other half lay beside me on my right. I was 
standing in a triangular space made by timbers 
that surrounded me and nothing but space left 
above me. 

I am not able to express my feelings at that 
moment. I was frightened and greatly astonished. 
When I came to realize how near I had come to 
passing to spirit-life, my heart was overflowing 
with thankfulness to my dear spirit helpers who 
had, in such a "mirculous" manner, saved my life. 

Subsequent investigation showed that the board 
I was trying to loosen was bolted to the timber 
to keep it from rolling off the post and this was 
the reason why I could not loosen it. It was a 
wonderful phenomenon, one that is not often pro- 
duced in such a powerful way ; yet when we realize 
that it is only an increased power of the same 
force that is used in moving a table, or otherwise 
overcoming gravitation as is often done in Spiri- 
tualist seances, those who have witnessed the lat- 
ter should not doubt the facts above written. No 
one will doubt it who is fortunate enough to ex- 
perience it as I did. 

"And when they were come up out of the water, the 
spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch 
saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. 
But Philip was found at Azotus (30 miles away), and 
passing through, he preached in all the cities till he 
came to Csesarea." (Acts VIII, 39-40.) 

Both of these stories may or may not be be- 
lieved by the skeptic, and I can blame no one for 
doubting them. I know nothing of the truth or 
untruth of the Bible story quoted, and I cannot 
accept it on faith ; but of the truth of this story of 
the levitation of my own body, I do know and 
consequently I must accept it. The difference is 
this: I was carried but four feet, and Philip was 
reported to have been carried about thirty miles. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 



"The Tramp's Message" (a Poem) — A Strong Test. 

As has before been stated, we deevloped the 
phase of mediumship for answering sealed ques- 
tions, and one evening during the summer of 1882 
our little family, consisting of Mrs. Sprague, our 
two children — Leslie and Marie — and myself, were 
holding our usual circle. The members of the 
circle had each written two questions for me to 
answer. I took them, one at a time, held them in 
my left hand and gave whatever came to me to 
give in answer to them. 

On taking one of Leslie's questions I heard a 
spirit voice speaking. It said : a Yes, my son, and 
gladly too, but not tonight." These words were 
repeated and I gave them as the answer to his 
question. The next day while I was working alone 
in a little shop near the house a strong "influence" 
suddenly came over me ; my hands were icy cold. 
I trembled from head to foot. A spirit voice said to 
me : "Write," "Write." I had become very ner- 
vous. I felt that I could not wait a moment. I 
took my pencil from my pocket, picked up a piece 
of smoothly planed board that chanced to be 
lying before me and began writing upon that. I 
wrote as fast as my hand could write until the 
poem of forty-one verses, which will follow these 
words of explanation, was finished. 

Kind reader, I do not publish this poem for the 
purpose of exhibiting its literary merit. I well 
know its many defects, and I also know that they 
were produced in consequence of my own lack of 
development. I publish it exactly as it was writ- 
ten, without correction, and it stands as one more 
of the many evidences of the truth of spirit com- 
munion, which fact whenever established in any 
mind, proves to that mind my claims of "A Future 
Life Demonstrated." 



8 I A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Some Facts Regarding This Poem. 

1st, When the influence came upon me and the 
voice told me to write, I was not expecting it. 1 
knew nothing about it. 

2nd. I did not know what I was going to write 
about. I had not the remotest idea what the sub- 
ject would be or one word that would be written. 

3d. I did not know, when I began to write, 
whether it would take the form of verse or prose. 

4th. "While writing it I knew not what the next 
word would be until it came to be written. 

5th. The poem tells a tale of real life, whether 
an actual occurrence or a mental creation. 

6th. If it is a true story I never heard it and 
could not have known it. 

7th. If it is an imaginary story, a creation of the 
mind, that mind was not my mind. 

8th. This poem is the result of careful fore- 
thought which was not mine. 

9th. The poem was written in answer to the 
written request of our son Leslie and that request 
was not known to me at the time of my writing it. 

10th. He had written the question in the circle 
the night before, naming the subject and asking 
for the poem which he wished to use at a certain 
place, at a certain time and for a certain purpose. 

11th. The poem was written upon the subject 
named in the pellet and was a perfect and com- 
plete answer to Leslie's request. 

12th. All of this — the request for the poem and 
the subject of the poem as given by Leslie — were 
entirely unknown to me. 

13th. Therefore, this proves, that the intelli- 
gence that caused me to write, did know what 
Leslie had written, and that he had asked for a 
poem, and had selected "The Tramp" as the sub- 
ject. 

Mill. The above is proven as is shown in the 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 85 

fact that the two requests that Leslie made were 
granted : first, the request that the spirit write 
the poem and, secondly, that the subject of the 
poem should be "The Tramp." 

15th. It being true that I did not plan the,, writ- 
ing; that I did not know of Leslie's request, the 
question arises as to who did plan and execute the 
poem ? 

16th. I am the only mortal who can truthfully 
answer this question. I am the only person on 
earth that knows. And I do know that there was 
an intelligent mind, not my own, that inspired the' 
thought, furnished the words, arranged the rhyme, 
the meter, etc. It having been given through the 
instrumentality of my poor, uncultivated brain, 
accounts at least in part, for its many imperfec- 
tions. My testimony is that the poem was planned 
and executed by a spirit — one who has been a familiar 
and true friend of mine these many years. 

Kind reader, please note the question and the 
answer to it. Leslie's question to the spirit, which 
he presented at the seance read as follows : "An- 
drew Payn, will you write a poem for me, using 
the subject, 'The Tramp?' that I may have it to 
recite in the 'Good Templars' ' lodge next Monday 
evening?" 

Xow note the words the spirit gave me as to 
the answer to his question : "Yes, my son, and 
gladly, too, but not tonight." The spirit fulfilled 
the request the next day, and an exact copy of the 
original poem follows: 



"The Tramp's Message." 

A tramp came along on a cold winter's night 
And he rapped at a farmer's door; 

His heart was heavy, his clothes were thin, 
And his health was very poor. 



86 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

The storm it raged and the wind blew hard 
The poor man did shiver and shake 

As he listened, but there was no response 
And the hour was getting late. 

So he rapped again, but voices loud 

Of the children in their glee 
Did drown the sound of the poor man's rap, 

More persistent then was he. 

Then the farmer's words in loud coarse voice 

Was heard as he said "Come in !" 
So he raised the latch and stepped inside, 

The light was burning dim. 

The farmer said: "Will you come this way 

And warm yourself by the fire?" 
The tramp said, "No, not now, but wait 

Till I speak my heart's desire. 

"I am cold and hungry, my feet are wet, 

I've not where to lay my head. 
I have called to see if you'd be so kind 

As to give a poor man a bed. 

"And something to eat with a place by your fire 

Till the morning sun doth come, 
Sir, I'm left alone in this cold, cold world, 

Not a friend, Oh no ! not one. 

"And I fear if you no shelter give 

From the cold blasts of tonight, 
That I must go with the angels to live 

Before the morning light. 

(The farmer speaks) — 

"Pray who are you that should ask of me 

So much when you've nothing to give; 
Think you to support a lazy tramp 

I my bed and board can give? 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 87 

"Go to work like me and earn your bread 

And not a-begging go; 
There's poor houses for such as you. 

No, for you I'll nothing do. 

"So take yourself from out my sight 

Hereafter go to work, 
And earn a place to stay at night, 

You good-for-nothing shirk." 

"Now John," the farmer's wife did say, 

" 'Tis cruel, don't you know, 
To turn this gentleman away, 

He will die out in the snow. 

"Let's take him in, the bed I'll make 

And some supper give to him, 
Now do, dear John, for heaven's sake, 

I'm sure 'twould be a sin 

"To drive away a man at night 

When we've so much in store, 
I'll never feel that we've done right, 

Let's take him, I implore." 

(Farmer Speaks) — 

"Now, Jane, that's you. The pesky tramp 

Has lice and all those things, 
And who knows but the smallpox 

In those rags to us he brings. 

"T see it will not do at all 

To take him in tonight, 
So now don't plead, this little squall 

Is passed, 'tis growing light." 

(Farmer's Wife) — 

"Now, John, just look at that cold snow, 



B8 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

'Tis driving thick and fast, 
He'd die if we should let him go, 
Oh! hear the cold wind's blast! 

"Please let him stay, dear husband, do, 

I'll make him something warm, 
I'll dry his feet. Oh ! hear him cough, 

You know we ought to learn 

"To live the Scripture as 'tis told: 

'Have charity for all.' 
Far better 'tis than all our gold. 
(Speaking to tramp) Don't stand there by the wall 

"But come up here and have a chair. 

I know he'll let you stay, 
And of our plenty you shall share, 

I'm sure he can't say nay." 

(Farmer speaks) — 

"Well, have your w T ay, you always would, 

But I can see most clear 
When we are old and wanting food, 

For the poor-house we can steer." 

Thus it was settled for the time 

The poor man said his prayer 
Within himself, and thanked his God 

For their plenty he should share. 

The wife some clean, dry stockings brought; 

He put them on his feet, 
And a pair of slippers, too, she gave — 

His foot they fitted neat. 

A pair of pants that once was Jim's — 

Their soldier boy that died — 
A bran new shirt to keep him warm, 

And many tilings beside. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 89 

And tea she made ; then gave to him 

A supper, warm and good, 
And the poor old tramp with thanknl heart 

Enjoyed the rich warm food. 

And when the supper hour had passed 

They sat around the stove, 
The farmer spoke these words to him : 

"How did you come to rove?'' 

He said : ''Dear friends, my story's short, 

A soldier's life I've seen ; 
1 served three years for 'Uncle Sam,' 

In Libby I have been. ("Libby," a Southern 
prison.) 

''Ten months on rebel rations 

I was destined to live ; 
But at last, I was exchanged. 

I now my life would °:ive 



''To reach the father and mother 
Of a comrade who died while there, 

I know I'd find true friends 

And their home in welcome share." 

(Farmer speaks) — 

"Who are the ones you speak of? 

Poor fellow! can you tell? 
Have you a message for them 

Given in that southern hell?" 

(Tramp replies) — 

''The soldier boy was Jimmy, 

Most too young to stand the war. 
But he braved the danger nobly. 

Yes, his name was Jimmy Farr." 



00 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

(Drawing message from bosom) — 
"He wrote me out this message, 

I have kept it all these years. 
As I placed it in my bosom 

His blue eyes filled with tears. 

"Said he : 'Henry, I am dying, 
Oh ! I know I can't live long, 

To my mother you must take this 
And she lives in Millardstown.' 

"But I never yet have found it 
For he did not name the state. 

No, no ! I have not found it, 
But I have tried at any rate. 

(Farmer speaks) — 

" 'Tis our boy ! God bless you, mister, 

And the message you have brought 
Is for us. Oh God be praised ! 

This is what we've always sought. 



" 'Tis a line from darling Jimmy — ■ 
O thank God it's come at last. 

Mother, you're an angel, bless you ! 
For protecting this outcast." 

( Farmer's Wife) — 

"Nellie! Nellie! come here quickly, 

Here's a line from brother Jim, 
Says he's dying in Libby prison 

And you'll ne'er see him again." 

(Farmer speaks) — 

"And a line for brother Walter, 

And here is a word to me; 
I'm so glad that you have brought it, 

You shall have, a home with me." 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 91 

(Farmer reading) — 

" 'And to father, loving father : . 

Please forgive an erring boy, 
I did wrong to go and leave you, 

But my time I did employ 

" 'In fighting for that freedom 

Which our fathers dearly bought; 
You can ask my dearest comrades 

How your Jimmy's deeds were wrought.' ' ; 

There was more the message told them 

And they all at once agreed 
That the poor tramp who had brought it, 

They'd supply his every need. 



CHAPTER X. 

Another Spirit Helper Joins Our Band — Spirit 
Makes Crayon Pictures — Message from Thomas 
de Torquemada, Spanish Inquisitor General — 
Spirit Gives Indian Name of Tobacco — Won- 
derful Vision and Its Fulfillment — Horse, 
Wagon and Boy Go Down the Bank — Held 
Up by Men with Rifles After Midnight. 



Another Spirit Helper Joins Our Band. 

One evening while we were living on the little 
farm in Evans, "Big Chief" — one of the strong 
members of our spirit-band, whose real Indian 
name we subsequently learned was "Wa-wa-sa" — 
while controlling me, picked up a pencil and drew 
a crude outline of a human face. The following 1 



!»•? A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

evening he repeated the aet and while at work on 
it another spirit, a stranger to our eircle, took 
control and completed the picture. This spirit 
appeared weak and almost unable to hold control 
at first, but in a short time was able to do so 
without "Wa-wa-sa's" assistance. He grew stronger 
and was soon making large crayon portraits. 
These pictures were crude, but they were quite 
wonderful productions, when the fact is considered 
that I had never taken a lesson and was entirely 
ignorant of the first principles of such work. This 
spirit gave his name as "Lotunda Modjeska," and 
said that he was born in France ; that his father 
was a Frenchman and his mother a French and 
Italian woman, and that he was an artist while in 
earth life. 

We held our circles for this phase of medium- 
ship twice each week for more than a year. The 
walls of our seance room were covered with pic- 
tures of people representing many nationalities. 
It was a strange sight to behold, and the magnetic 
influence of that seance room was so strong that 
people who never felt those influences before were 
affected by them. There was a marked advance- 
ment in this work from time to time, and often, 
while under Modjeska's control, we would give re- 
markable tests and messages. Usually he would 
not speak while making a picture ; but when it 
was completed he would talk about it and would 
read, from the picture, the characteristics of the 
person it represented. In this way character read- 
ing, as a phase of my mediumship was largely de- 
veloped. Under his control I was never uncon- 
scious, though I was helpless to do my own wish 
or will. 

We all learned to love this kind-hearted, gentle 
and affectionate spirit very much. He made three 
pictures of "Mendota," Mrs. Sprague's Indian girl 
and spirit helper, the last one being the best one. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 93 

Our sittings for pictures came suddenly to an end. 
The spirit friends said nothing about giving them 
up, but we ceased sitting for that phase and have 
never made a picture since, though more than 
twenty-three years have passed and we have been 
active in the work nearly every day of the time. 

Subsequently we learned that the object of the 
spirit-friends in having us sit for crayon pictures 
was not to develop me as a spirit-artist, but to 
develop my clairvoyance, clairandience and ability 
to read character. These circles furnished excel- 
lent conditions for deveolpment as the minds of. 
medium and sitters were concentrated upon the 
picture as the work progressed ; and each seance 
lasted from three-fourths of an hour to one hour. 

During the time of these seances, we visited a 
linguist, Mr. Lamy of Buffalo, N. Y., and inquired 
about the nationality of the name Lotunda Mod- 
jeska. He said that in France, Spain and Italy 
the name Lotunda was as common as the name of 
John in this country, and that Modjeska was a 
French name. I knew nothing whatever of these 
facts ; never to my knowledge had I heard the 
name of Lotunda until it was given by this spirit. 
As I have stated, the spirit told us that his father 
was a Frenchman and his mother a French and 
Italian woman. This to me is corroborative evi- 
dence of the truth of the claims of the spirit. 

We had other seances for the development of 
other phases of mediumship averaging as many as 
one seance for every day, or three hundred and 
sixty-five sittings per year for six fruitful years, 
and following that time twice a week for two 
years more. This occupied eight years of our 
psychic work and experience, and we have been 
equally as active the other nineteen years of our 
connection with Spiritualism, giving private read- 
ings, holding seances, lecturing, giving platform 
tests, messages, etc. We held nearly three hun- 



94 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

dred meetings each year during the six years that 
we labored as missionaries of the National Spirit- 
ualists' Association, besides traveling thousands of 
miles each year; and we are not ruined physically, 
mentally, or morally, though our friends "the ene- 
my" are constantly harping about the dangers of 
mediumship. Instead of injury, the development 
and practice of mediumship has brought physical 
health, brain power, spiritual development, com- 
forting spirit-messages, peace and happiness to 
both Mrs. Sprague and myself. We are still en- 
joying the work and feel fully able and qualified 
to continue it for some years to come. 

We gave the first eight years of our services to 
the cause entirely without compensation. We 
gave it freely and gladly, too. Since that time 
we have been fairly well compensated for our 
work. Wherever we have labored, people have 
shown their appreciation of our services and a dis- 
position to justly compensate us for them. For 
this we are thankful and well satisfied. We were 
amply compensated for the eight years of faithful 
sittings that we held, if in nothing else, in the fact 
that Mrs. Sprague was snatched from the grave, 
as it were, she having been healed of a terrible 
disease and her life saved. In addition to this, 
both of us received the development of our melium- 
sliip, that best and sweetest gift of God and na- 
ture to man. The angels have indeed been good 
to us, and we are blessed. 

Spanish Inquisitor General Communicates. 

In the month of December, 1883, without solici- 
tation or expectation on my part, a spirit claiming 
to be Thomas de Torquemada, the Spanish Inquis- 
itor General of ancient times, came to me and wrote 
a little poem of seven stanzas through my hand. 
In it he said he had "suffered much for what he 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 95 

had wrought on the earth plane ;" that he was 
not guilty of the many crimes that had been laid 
to him ; that he was not free from superstition 
himself, and that he did do some of the "dark 
deeds'' that were laid to him, but that they were 
only the fulfillment of the laws and edicts of the 
Catholic Church, whose servant in an official capa- 
city he was. 

He said further that history does not tell the 
truth about him ; that he did not control those 
"hells of torture," that he was but a minion in 
the hands of the pope, whose idea was to burn 
the sinner and thus do away with sin. 

He stated that he did not have the liberal teach- 
ings at his command that we enjoy today; "that he 
did not know or feel that angels true" could mark 
out the way for them as they do now for us ; that he 
possessed no teacher who had learned the spiritual 
laws, and no elevating power to which he could 
turn for advice ; but having been educated to be- 
lieve in the "direst creeds he wrought some of 
those most wicked deeds believing always it was 
God's command and that it was his supreme duty 
to fulfill the plan." 

He said it grieved his heart to see the suffering 
wrought by him upon the w r eak, but he could not 
do better than he had been taught; the light to 
him not having been given, he knew no other way 
than to obey the law commanding the torture and 
the prison. 

He continued by saying that he feared he would 
not be understood and stated that "wanton lies 
never did bring happiness," and prayed "that those 
who had slandered him so long might learn the 
truth as time rolls on." 

He made it clear that he was only an officer of 
the law, and that he was fulfilling the duties of 
his office, the same as a sheriff of a county today 
fulfills the law when he executes a man whom 



96 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

the judge has sentenced to death. He stated that 
one hundred years hence the people of this coun- 
try will look back upon the acts of our so-called 
"civil courts" and judge them as unjust and bar- 
barous acts of an ignorant people; that the time 
will come wheti the people of this great world 
will judge the awful deeds of war in the same 
way. 

The poem is signed as follows : "Thomas de 
Torquemada, former Spanish Inquisitor General, 
but my name is not the curse that designing men 
would make it." 

After receiving- the poem referred to, I learned 
that this man had been denominated by Protestant 
Christians, Infidels and others, "The wickedest 
man that ever lived." 

Dear reader, before passing judgment upon this 
unfortunate man, please consider carefully the his- 
tory of the horrors perpetrated by the Catholic 
Church through the Spanish inquisition and the 
laws, customs, etc., of the people connected with 
that unhappy affair. Torquemada, like each of us, 
was a creature of his environment. 

"Wa-wa-sa" Gives Indian Name of Tobacco. 

While we were on the little Evans farm, in the 
year 1883, we disposed of a part of our tomato 
crop at the canning factory at Gowanda, N. Y., 
and had to cross the Cattaraugus Indian Reserva- 
tion going and coming. One day while crossing 
this reservation on our way home, our good spirit- 
friend Wa-wa-sa came to me and said, "Ingwa," 
"Ingwa," "Ingwa" be Indian name of tobacco. 
Ask Indjun, see." I immediately wrote the word 
on a shaving I found in the wagon, so as not to 
forget it, and then told Mr. George Cook, who 
was following me with a team, what the spirit 
had said, and we agreed that we would ask the 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 97 

first Indian that we met, and learn if it was cor- 
rect. 

We traveled on until we came to a number of 
Indians who were sitting on the fence in front 
of a house. AYe asked them to tell us what the 
Indians called tobacco, and they said the Indian 
name was "Ing-wa." A little further on, an In- 
dian school teacher came out of a schoolhouse ; 
we invited him to ride with us and on questioning 
him he corroborated the statement of the other 
Indians, stating that Ing-wa was one of names 
of tobacco used by the Cattaraugus Indians. 

The above is a simple test, but it is one of im- 
portance to me. Hudson's Scientific (?) theory 
of the "Subconscious mind" does not explain it 
satisfactorily, nor does any other substitute for 
mediumship. If my "subconscious self" can talk 
to myself in the Indian language, using words 
that my conscious self cannot understand at all, 
he, or it, is another fellow or another something. 
I, myself, had never heard the word "Ing-wa" 
spoken before, and up to this time my conscious 
self was absolutely unconscious of the fact that 
such a word was ever spoken. I do not believe 
that my "subconscious mind" spoke those words 
in my ear, and at other times personates an In- 
dian, speaking through my lips, sometimes in the 
Indian tongue, and sometimes in the English lan- 
guage, and telling us that its name is "Wa-wa-sa," 
that it once lived upon this earth and was a chief 
of a tribe of Onondaga Indians. I cannot believe 
that my "subconscious mind" would be such a 
colossal liar, and come to deceive and cheat my 
conscious mind with such falsehoods, the theory 
of Thomson J. Hudson, Scientist, to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 

I have no belief in this matter. What I have is 
knowdedge ; that positive knowledge which is de- 
rived from experience, the source from which 



98 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

other knowledge is gained. I know that Hudson's 
theory is not true; I have proved it untrue. I 
have proved that my dear spirit helper "Wa-wa- 
sa" is just what he tells us he is, namely: the 
spirit of a good old Indian man who once lived on 
earth, and now returns to help and bless his 
mortal brothers. We love him dearly. 

A Vision and Its Fulfillment — Down the Bank. 

In the fall of 1883, while living on the farm, we 
had two acres of very fine tomatoes. One Friday 
we picked a nice lot of them and were packing 
them in crates making ready for market, when 
suddenly there came over me a feeling of dread. 
I felt that I must not go to Buffalo with those 
tomatoes. I did not know what to do. I could 
think of no way to avoid going, and finally I went 
into the house and told Mrs. Sprague about it. 
She advised me not to go. I told her that I had 
forty bushels of the very finest tomatoes and they 
must be marketed the next day, as it would be 
Saturday and I was afraid they would not keep 
well until Monday. I went back to the work, but 
several times during the afternoon that feeling of 
dread came over me and at such times it seemed 
that I could not go to Buffalo that night. 

But finally, about 8:30 o'clock that evening we 
started for market. A neighbor's son went with 
us. It was hard for me. to force myself to go, as 
that feeling of dread was still upon me. 

"While driving from the house down to the road 
I had a vision. I saw r a horse and wagon ap- 
parently in a smashup. The wagon was upside 
down and broken. The horse was separated from 
it and appeared in a rearing position and all was 
dark around them. The vision lasted only for a 
moment and vanished. I said to myself: "This 
is given to me as a warning to look out for the 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 99 



cars," and I resolved to use the greatest caution 
in crossing the railroad tracks. I decided to leave 
the rig and go out upon the tracks before we 
crossed them. I felt somewhat relieved after this 
conclusion but was not fully satisfied. I still felt 
nervous. 

We drove on, passing the village of North 
Evans and reaching the Eighteen-Mile Creek. The 
bank on the east side of the creek is perhaps one 
hundred feet above the creek. The road leading 
diagonally up the hill was quite steep. We 
alighted from our wagons and started up the hill. 
When about one-third or one-half the way to the 
top, we stopped to let the horses rest. I was 
driving a colt and was in the lead. Leslie, our 
son, was next to me with a lively little horse and 
twenty bushels of tomatoes on his wagon. Dell 



Clark, our neighbor's sixteen-year-old son, was 
next to Leslie in the procession and had a mixed 
load of vegetables, chickens, etc., with three bush- 
els of tomatoes on top of it. It was a very high 
load. 

When we were ready to start again I told 
Leslie to hold on to his horse until I was a little dis- 
tance in advance, as his horse walked faster than mine 
and crowded against my wagon. When I started, 
Leslie's horse started also. He held her back, but 
she moved the wheel a little way off the block that 
held the load, and when the horse slacked back the 
wheel rolled over the block and the horse could not 
hold the load. It was so heavy and the hill so steep 
that it drew the horse back with it. The wagon 
pressed against Dell Clark's horse and he had to back 
away. Both boys shouted at their horses, urging 
them forward, trying to get them to hold their loads, 
but they were unable to do so, and the crash came. 
The wagon breaking through the two-board fence, the 
rolling, tumbling and crackling sounds told the story 
that one or both horses and wagons had gone down 



100 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

the bank. It was so dark that I could not see and I 
shouted to Leslie. He answered instantly, saying: 
"Oh, Pa ! Dell has gone down the bank, horse, wagon 
and all." "Call to him," said I, "and see if he will 
answer." lie did so and the boy answered. Leslie 
asked him if was injured. He said, "No! but I have 
the horse here. I don't think he is hurt, but the 
wagon has gone to the bottom of the gulf." 

T backed my wagon around against the bank, un- 
hitched the horse and tied her to the wagon. Leslie 
lifted the lantern, we went down the bank and found 
Dell and his horse perched on a little ledge of a rock. 
The wagon had rolled over and over all the way down 
the hill, landing at the bottom, sixty-five feet below, 
with wheels in the air, bottom side up. The load, 
which consisted of eggs, live chickens, apples, toma- 
toes, butter, squashes, etc., was scattered in the weeds, 
brush and powdered slate rock, down the hillside. 

At the beginning, when the horses began backing 
down the hill, Leslie's wagon cramped toward the 
upper side of the road and landed against the bank 
which held it. But Dell's wagon cramped the other 
way, breaking through the board fence, falling over 
the steep hillside and pulling the horse after it. Dell 
had dropped the lines and caught the horse by the bit, 
and as the wagon broke over the hill it slewed around 
against a tree, which broke both thills off at the cross- 
bar, and somehow, possibly by spirit power, both tugs 
were unhooked, which released the wagon ; otherwise 
the load must have dragged the horse to his death. 
Xo doubt Dell would have gone to the bottom with 
them, as he did go part way with the horse. The 
bank was almost perpendicular. We were at a loss 
to know how to get the horse out of that place. From 
a hotel at the top of the hill, we secured a half dozen 
young men, one or two of whom held the horse's head 
and the others kept his body in place so his head was 
inward the hill. We backed him off the ledge and 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 10 1 

the hill was so steep that he slid backwards to the bot- 
tom easily. 

I advised Dell to take his horse and go home, and 
then return next day with a team and get the broken 
wagon and its load. But he would not consent to 
that. He said he would hire a wagon and go on to 
Buffalo with the load. One of the young men went 
with him for a wagon, while we gathered what we 
could of the scattered load. The tomatoes were badly 
smashed and scattered, two of the crickens were miss- 
ing. Some of the eggs were smashed, and other 
things were in a dilapidated condition. However, with 
the aid of the young men we were soon on our way 
again. And this experience was the real fulfillment 
of the vision that the spirits had shown me at the time 
we started from home. The reader will please note 
the following facts : The wagon was bottom side up 
and broken in the vision; it w r as bottom side up and 
broken in the accident. The horse was separated 
from the wagon in the vision; he was separated from 
the wagon in the accident. The horse appeared to be 
rearing in the vision ; he was in that position while 
going down the bank to the ledge on which he and 
Dell landed, in the accident. The vision appeared to 
be in the darkness ; the accident occurred in the dark- 
ness. Was this accident foreordained? Was it to 
be? If not, how did' the spirits know of it before- 
hand? It is easy to ask questions. We have our 
views regarding this one, but have not the space here 
to discuss it. 

Held up by Men with Rifles After Midnight. 

We drove along six or seven miles, until we had 
passed the Government Rifle Range, near Athol 
Springs. Leslie was in the lead with his load, Dell 
was following him, and I was bringing up the rear. 
At this time it was quite light, as the moon had arisen, 
when we came upon a one-horse hack standing in the 
road. The driver was sitting in his seat trying to 



102 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

urge his horse to go on; there was a bareheaded man 
with a rifle in one hand, and holding the horse by the 
bit with the other. Another man was standing a few 
feet away, also bareheaded, with a gun in his hands. 
This man spoke to us in a threatening tone of voice, 
saying: ''Stop! stop right here! We want you." 
Leslie obeyed, which caused us all to stop. This man 
was holding his gun pointed at the door of the cab 
and said: "Come out!" "Come right out!" "Come 
right out here, I say!" His commands were pretty 
thoroughly seasoned with oaths, which seemed to add 
emphasis. 

I told Leslie to go right along, that this was none 
of our business. He started and we followed. Just 
then a large man stepped out of the carriage and 
started toward the little man with the gun. "Halt!" 
"Halt or I will blow daylight through you !" said the 
little man. "Stand over there on the grass sir !" 
"Stand right over there !" The large man obeyed 
promptly. Then the little man said to the one holding 
the horse : "Look out, Jack, or they will get the drop 
on you!" He replied: "No! they'll not get the drop 
on me. Don't you think it!" 

While this was transpiring we were moving along 
and were soon out of sight and hearing. We were 
glad to leave them behind. We never learned what 
was the trouble with them, nor how the matter ended. 
We arrived in Buffalo feeling that we had had enough 
adventures for one night. We sold our loads and 
returned home all right next day. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 103 



CHAPTER XL 

Frozen to Death in a Shed — Spirits Produce Strange 
Snapping Sounds, and Start Music Box Playing — 
A Spirit Foretells the Weather — We Hold Two 
Meetings in Our Old Home — Prof. Sundeen's 
Wonderful Mind — Reading Tests Produced by 
Spirits. 



Frozen to Death. 

The Spirit of Little Willie Riley Comes to Us. 

Sometime during the year 1883, while holding a 
seance in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Candee, at 
Pontiac, N. Y., we had the following strange experi- 
ence. We had just taken our places at the table for a 
seance when I heard spirit voices singing. While lis- 
tening a spirit spoke to me saying: "Please sing the 
beautiful song, 'Out in the Cold World, Out in the 
Street.' ' I told the members of the circle what I 
heard them say, and as soon as they began singing it, 
I was placed under control, personating a little boy. 
I felt like a little boy ; I was cold ; my teeth chattered ; 
my limbs felt stiff and it seemed as though my boots 
were frozen on my feet. Members of the circle spoke 
encouragingly to the spirit, making him welcome, and 
inviting him to speak to them, which he did. 

He told them that his name was "Willie Riley;" that 
he had lived in New York ; that he had no home but 
slept in sheds or any place he could get to sleep ; and 
that sometimes he had been obliged to eat from garb- 
age boxes and barrels. Finally one cold night he was 
frozen to death in a shed. He said that a good man 



104 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED, 

had brought him to us, and he told him that we would 
love him, etc. The members of the circle questioned 
the dear little fellow and learned much about his child 
life. It was one of great suffering. When Mrs. 
Sprague said "Willie where was your Mamma?'' he 
replied: "She would not have me/' and the dear 
little fellow broke down and cried as though his heart 
would break. Mrs. Sprague said: "Never mind, 
Willie, I will be your Mamma now," and Airs. Can- 
dee said: "I will be a mother to you, too, Willie." 
"Oh, will you both be my Mamma?" he exclaimed, 
and when they told him he could come to their homes 
and they would fill the place of Mamma to him, the 
dear little fellow ceased weeping and seemed happy. 

Words cannot portray this scene. The poor, little, 
homeless waif had been brought to us by our spirit- 
friends that he might receive what w r as lost to him in 
his earthly experience, and also that we might learn 
one of the mightiest lessons, namely : that one who 
hungers for food may also starve for love, and while 
death relieves the physical hunger, the hunger and 
thirst of the spirit for love, cannot be satisfied either 
in earth-life or in the spirit-spheres, except it re- 
ceives it. Many poor creatures, both in the mortal 
world and in the spirit-realm are famishing for the 
true love that legitimately belongs to every living soul. 
Is it not plain that all progressive people should labor 
diligently to overcome the present condition of society 
that allows little helpless children to starve and freeze 
to death in a country possessing such great resources 
as ours. 

Little Willie Riley became a frequent visitor at our 
seances. He became a diligent student of our Spirit- 
ual Philosophy as time passed by. He is at this time 
(1908) a bright and loving spirit, having grown to 
manhood in spirit life, receiving an education there 
while gaining an earthly experience through commun- 
ion with mortals on this side of life. He speaks beau- 
tifully through Mrs. Sprague, and those who know 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 105 

him love him. We are indeed blessed by having this 
true soul "to minister to us" as one of our guiding' 
band of immortal helpers. 

"Are they not all ministering spirts, sent forth to 
minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." 
(Hebrews 1:14.) 

Spirits Produce Strange Snapping Sounds and 
Start Music-box Playing. 

In the fall of 1884 we were holding regular weekly 
circles in the home of Mr. and Airs. George W. Ship- 
man, at North Collins, N. Y., and were getting excel- 
lent results. One morning Airs. Sprague and I called 
at the Shipman home. We talked of the fine seance 
we held the night before, and on entering the parlor, 
where we were in the habit of holding our seances, we 
all felt a strong influence enveloping us ; suddenly 
strange crackling or snapping sounds filled every part 
of the room. This lasted more than a minute and was 
different from any spirit phenomenon I had ever wit- 
nessed before or have ever seen since. Immediately 
following this peculiar manifestation, an ordinary mu- 
sic box, which was occupying a place high up on the 
top of a book-case in the corner of the room, no per- 
son being near it, started up and played a part of a 
tune, which lasted perhaps another minute or more. 

How many thousand proofs must it take to establish 
the truth of the phenomena of Spiritualism? The 
person who investigates Modern Spiritualism honestly, 
candidly, prayerfully and thoroughly, must become a 
Spiritualist, because it is a truth and has the proof in 
great abundance. 

A Spirit Foretells the Weather. 

On Wednesday, October 7, 1885, at our circle, Mrs. 
Sprague asked E. V. Wilson (Spirit) if we better ac- 
cept the invitation to speak at North Boston, N. Y. 
He replied that he would be pleased to have us do so. 



106 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

and then said: "You will go, and the meeting will be 
a success. You better take plenty of wraps with you 
for you will meet with a blizzard and will suffer if 
you are not prepared for it." Saturday morning was 
clear and bright when we started, and we thought we 
were to have a beautiful day to make the drive. But 
when we were two or three miles on our way there 
came up a "squall" from the northwest and it snowed 
and blew terribly. At first the snow was wet and the 
wind drove it into the hair of the horse. It grew 
colder very fast and the hair, main and tail of the horse 
became full of frozen snow. If we had not brought 
our umbrellas and wraps we would certainly have suf- 
fered. How this spirit knew two days and fourteen 
hours beforehand that a blizzard was coming to over- 
take us, I do not know. Some skeptic may say ''coin- 
cidence" but that does not explain. Indeed it would 
take more credulity to believe that all of the prophesies 
and facts that the spirits tell us are to be explained by 
coincidence, than to believe they are just what they 
claim to be, namely : the spirit's foresight or foreknowl- 
edge. 

"Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesyings. 
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." (1st 
Thessalonians V-20.) 

Prof. Sundeen's Mind-Reading Tests Tested. 

On Jan. 17, 1884, I met Prof. Sundeen, the great 
Swedish Mind-Reader at Lockport, N. Y., and saw 
him do his wonderful "Driving Feat" and other re- 
markable things of which the average physical scien- 
tist is silent, if not entirely ignorant. Prof. Sundeen 
was at the Lockport opera house surrounded by a 
number of investigators. A committee was selected 
to go out and hide a silver dollar. Neither Sundeen 
nor any of us knew in which direction the committee 
went. After a little time we, with Prof. Sundeen, 
went to the place where we were to meet the commit- 
tee that had hidden the dollar. Here we found a liv- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 107 

ery rig in waiting. Prof. Sundeen was blindfolded in 
such a manner that it was impossible for him to see 
with his physical eyes ; a perfect hoodwink being used. 
He was then helped upon the driver's seat, and the 
gentleman who had hidden the dollar took a seat be- 
side him holding an eight-inch ring made of ^4 -inch 
copper wire in his right hand. Prof. Sundeen put his 
hand through the ring, the reins were placed in his 
hands, four gentlemen entered the carriage, and every- 
thing being in readiness the signal was given to start. 

The team started off at a lively trot and Sundeen 
soon had it on the run. They turned the corner of 
the street at such a rapid pace that there was danger 
of upsetting the carriage ; as the turn was made a team 
was met coming right toward them. It was an excit- 
ing moment to us lookers-on. The blindfolded driver 
seemed to take in the situation at once, although he 
had no use of his eyes. He turned to the right, safely 
passing between the team and the curbstone, though 
there was barely room to do so. Before he was fairly 
clear of this team another one hauling a low stone- 
wagon heavily laden with a large stone appeared 
squarely in front of them, and there was not enough 
room between it and the curb for the carriage to pass. 
The blinded driver reined his running team to the left 
just clearing the stone-team as he continued his race 
for the dollar. On down the street they went, the 
horses still on the run until, all at once, the horses were 
seen to almost sit upon their haunches, the driver hold- 
ing them up so suddenly. Sundeen sprang from the 
driver's seat, dragging the gentleman who was hold- 
ing the copper ring with him, ran to the sidewalk, 
turned up the street, ran by two or three doors, en- 
tered a store, ran around behind the counter, and 
reaching the top of a high book case on which was 
lying some old account books, he quickly opened one 
of them and brought out the dollar. 

After this wonderful feat was accomplished, Prof. 
Sundeen was in a terrible condition. His heart beat 



L08 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

so heavily that it shook his whole body. It frightened 
us. He was wet with perspiration, and I never saw a 
person pant and gasp for breath as he did. He could 
not speak for some time. I thought he would die. T 
rubbed him, and after a little time he seemed better. 
When he was able to talk he told me not to be fright- 
ened; that he was always affected in that way when 
he did the "Driving Feat." It was a wonderful ex- 
hibition of an intelligent and invisible force operating 
in an unusual manner, though no more wonderful or 
marvelous than many other spirit-manifestations with 
which Spiritualists are perfectly familiar. 

After Prof. Sundeen had gained his equilibrium I 
invited him to accompany me to Mr. and Mrs. E. A. 
Doty's hospitable home, where I was stopping at the 
time, and to my great pleasure he accepted the invita- 
tion. He spent the afternoon with us and did many 
"Mind Reading" acts, some of which I will record. 

Experiment No. 1 — 

Prof. Sundeen had a square piece of canvas with 
the twenty-six letters of the alphabet printed in rows 
upon it. The numerals were placed in a row across 
the bottom, and the names of the twelve months of the 
year written around the edge of it. I placed the hood- 
wink upon his eyes and took hold of his right 1 wrist 
with my left hand. He then told me to think of the 
year in which I was born. I did so, then he told me to 
think of the first figure used in writing that year. On my 
doing so, his hand placed the point of the pencil on the 
figure one. Then as I thought of the other figures one by 
one, the point of the pencil was placed upon the figures 
eight, four and seven respectively. I was born in the 
year 1847. He then told me to think of the month 
in which I was born. I did so, and the pencil in his 
hand went at once to the word September. Then he 
told me to think of the first figure in the day of the 
month and at once his pencil rested upon the figure 
one. lie told me that if there were two figures in the 
date to think of the other one. On my doing so the 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 109 

pencil rested upon the figure eight. I was born Sep- 
tember 18th, 1847, and the professor had pointed out 
the date correctly, whether he had read my mind or 
not. I shall show conclusively before I am through 
with the report of this remarkable experience, that 
Prof. Sundeen did not read my mind at all. 

Experiment No. 2 — 

Prof. Sundeen was blindfolded as before. I took 
the copper ring, mentioned above, in my left hand. 
The professor put his right hand through it until the 
ring rested upon his wrist. Webster's unabridged 
dictionary lay in front of him, and he told me to open 
it at any place I might choose, to select any letter in 
any word in any part of the dictionary that I pleased 
and to stick a pin into the letter chosen so as to mark 
it, then close the dictionary and he would undertake to 
find it. 

At first I chose a lower case "e" in the word "the," 
it being about the smallest letter and, as I thought, the 
hardest to find. It was near the middle of the book. 
I pricked it with the pin, noted the page so as to be 
able to find it myself and closed the book. The pro- 
fessor then opened the book at the front, telling me to 
think of the page that contained the letter that I had 
selected, and when he turned the leaves beyond that 
page, to try to impress him with that fact, and when 
he turned back and passed it again, to think strongly 
that he had passed it, keeping this up until he found 
the page. I did so and his hands obeyed my thought 
so well that he found the page in less than a minute. 
He then took a pin from the lapel of his coat, and after 
telling me to keep my mind on the letter I had selected, 
his hand moved tremblingly backward and forward 
over the page the distance from the letter selected de- 
creasing until his hand became quiet and settled down 
placing the pin exactly in the pin-hole that I had made 
in the letter "e" that I had selected, leaving the pin 
sticking there. 

I told the professor that he had found the letter 



110 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

and that it was wonderful. "But," said I, "what is 
the letter that you have found?" He became excited 
and said: "Is it not right?" "O, yes," said I, "You 
have it right, and I am delighted with your success ; 
but tell me, what letter is it that you have found?" 
"I don't know, I don't know, but I have it right, 
haven't I?" said he. I told him that he was doing a 
wonderful work, but he should not get excited. I 
asked him how he found the letter so quickly and eas- 
ily. His answer was that he did not know, but that 
something pushes and pulls his hand until it gets where 
the letter is, and then it goes down and sticks the pin 
in the place. He acknowledged that he did not know 
what letter I had selected, but he insisted that he had 
read my mind, and seemed almost angry because I told 
him it was not mind reading. 

We tried this experiment several times and each 
time with the same success, but it was proven to my 
satisfaction that the professor did not read my mind 
in any instance. He had not learned my age, the year, 
month, or day of the month in which I was born, nor 
could he tell any of the letters or figures that he had 
pointed out. Neither could he tell one of the names 
of people that I had thought of and whose names his 
hand had spelled out by pointing at the letters, while 
his eyes were blinded by the hoodwink. 

Experiment No. 3 — 

The following experiment was of a different char- 
acter from those mentioned above. The professor 
and I sat down and became quiet for a few moments, 
"to make conditions," as he said. Then he told me 
to think of any one of the first five numerals. I then 
thought of the figure four, picturing it in my mind, 
and he wrote it on a piece of paper at once. I created 
a mental picture of the figure five in my mind, and he 
wrote it down without hesitation. He did this many 
times without making a mistake. I then asked him if 
he could tell me the figure, I pictured in my mind, as 
well as he could write it, and if it made any difference 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. Ill 

whether we took the first five numerals or the last five. 
He said he could sometimes tell it as well as he could 
write it ; that it made no difference what five numerals 
we chose to use and that he could use the whole ten 
at once, but it was harder work for him to do it. We 
selected the numerals from six to ten and he spoke the 
name of the figure that I pictured in my mind, about 
five times out of six trials, failing on an average about 
once out of six times. On my questioning him, he 
said he seemed to see the figure in his mind or in the 
air in front of him. He was always blindfolded when 
he saw or wrote these figures, or when he did any of 
these marvelous things in my presence. 

Experiment No. 4 — 

My young friend Merton Doty went into another 
room and hid a pin. Prof. Sundeen was then blind- 
folded, and Merton took the copper ring in his hand; 
the professor then placed his arm in the ring, and told 
Merton to keep his mind on the pin and its location. 
He stood a moment then rushed from the sitting room 
into the dining room, then into the parlor, dragging 
Merton with him, rushed across the room and was 
feeling* about the corner of the room. He seemed to 
have lost his bearings and did not appear so excited as 
when everything worked right. At this moment I be- 
came clairvoyant. I saw a spirit with black hair, 
black side whiskers, and stout in build. He had the 
appearance of a foreigner. This spirit put his hands 
upon Sundeeirs shoulders and turned him around, 
pushing him toward the piano which was on the other 
side of the room. Sundeen obeyed the impulse sim- 
ultaneously, and turning around made a dive for the 
piano ; reaching down under the piano treadle he took 
the pin from the place where Merton had hid it. 

Recapitulation — 

Though Prof. Sundeen's hand had placed the pencil 
on the letters painted on the canvas, spelling names 
that I suggested mentally, and though his hand pointed 
out the year, the month and the day of the month that 



I L2 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

I was horn, as 1 thought of each of these, still it was 
not a demonstration of "Mind-Reading." If he had 

read my mind he would have read therein the year, 
month, and day of my birth, and would have been able 
to tell it ; but he could not tell those dates. He did 
not know them, therefore he did not read my mind. 

If he had read my mind he would have known that 
he and I had both stuck the pin point in the lower case 
letter "e." He did not know it, therefore, it was not 
Prof. Sundeen that directed his hand to point out this 
letter. It was not his own mind that impelled his hand 
and directed the pin point to the letters I had pricked 
in the dictionary. 

Reader, do you ask what power it was? I answer: 
It was an intelligent power that could read my mind; 
that knew my thought. Sundeen had not the remot- 
est idea what my thought was. It was an intelligence 
that could see though it had no physical eyes ; other- 
wise it could not have directed the pencil or the pin to 
the proper letters forming words, and to figures indi- 
cating dates. In short the "Mind-Reader" was not 
Prof. Sundeen, but it was a spirit, as I so amply and 
satisfactorily proved. To me there can be no other 
explanation that will explain all of the facts. 

How did Sundeen see the figures as I placed them 
in my mind? That, to me, is a simple manifestation 
of "Impressional Clairvoyance," or "Mental Impres- 
sion," and was produced by a spirit, a simple, though 
stupendous fact which Spiritualists long ago demons- 
trated to be true. 

My firm conviction is, that the moving of Prof. Sun- 
deen's hand in pointing out the letters, words and fig- 
ures, in finding the hiden pin, in writing down the fig- 
ures, as well as his great "Driving Feat," were all pro- 
duced by spirits acting upon the physical organism of 
this mediumistic "Mind-Reader." He made no mis- 
takes when his physical was used to designate the let- 
ters, figures, or articles selected by me, or by others 
on this occasion. It was purely a physical manifesta- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 113 

tion of spirit power, such as is used by the spirits to 
produce "Automatic Writing." 

When Prof. Sundeen's mental powers were used, and 
he was to tell what figures I was thinking about, the 
manifestations were greatly limited; he was obliged to 
limit me to only five numerals ; he failed one time out 
of every six attempts ; but when he depended upon his 
physical mediumship he could give me my choice in all 
of the letters and words in Webster's Unabridged Dic- 
tionary ; there was no necessity for a limit as the spirit 
could move the hand as well to point out one thing as 
another and make no mistakes. 

Personally I am seeking proof that spirits do not 
take an active part in every manifestation of so-called 
"Mind-Reading." I know from personal experience 
that they sometimes carry the thought of one person to 
another, and this is often called "Mind-Reading." It 
is "Mind-Reading," but the spirit and not the person 
encased in flesh does the reading. I do not doubt the 
possibility of persons on earth reading each other's 
minds without the aid of spirits. I believe it is pos- 
sible, and according to natural law, but I am seeking 
the positive demonstration of the fact, if it be a fact. 

For further evidence of the fact that spirits are able 
to see hiden things, make known facts, communicate 
dates, give figures, names, etc., some of which are 
entirely outside the knowledge of people on earth, see 
the account of a "Table Tipping" seance with Mr. J. 
E. Rife, of Wichita, Kan., in a following chapter of 
this book. 

My experience with Prof. Sundeen, Mr. Seymour 
and several other "Mind-Readers" has convinced me 
beyond a doubt that they are mediums, and that their 
manifestations are produced through the aid of spirits. 
Mr. Seymour is the only one that I have met who ac- 
knowledges publicly that he is a medium. Fie tells 
the public that he is a Spiritualist and a medium, and 
that he developed his power by sitting in seances. Sey- 
mour's manifestations are verv similar to 'Prof. Sun- 



114 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

deen's. Many of our mediums have some phases sim- 
ilar to those of the "Mind-Readers." 

Professor Bishop, the great Mind Reader, was a 
subject of trance. It is said that he carried a written 
statement of that fact in his vest pocket, in the hope 
that it would protect him from injury while in the 
trance state, as he was liable to fall into a trance at 
any time, on railway trains or anywhere, and .some- 
times he would remain in that condition for a week 
at a time. 

It was reported that immediately after his last mar- 
velous feat, in which he failed to find the hidden articles 
twice, but on the third attempt succeeded, the strain 
upon him was great and he immediately fell into a 
trance. It was also reported that while he was in 
that state the three doctors who attended him, suppos- 
ing him to be dead, cut open his skull, probably look- 
ing for the secret of his wonderful power to do such 
marvelous and unusual things. According to these 
reports the relatives of Prof. Bishop brought an action 
against these inquisitive doctors for fifty thousand 
dollars' damages for taking the life of the professor. 
I never learned the result of the suit. One thing is 
plain, an uneducated Spiritualist knows how to handle 
a medium in a trance much better than does a learned 
physician who is not a Spiritualist. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 1 L 



CHAPTER XII. 

How We Know Our Spirit Helpers — Indian Chief 
and Squaw Attend Our Seance — "Wa-Wa-sa" 
Speaks Indian Through His Medium — Restored 
to Life in Andersonville Prison — Mother Pray's 
Transition. 



How We Know Our Spirit Helpers. 

I know my spirit helpers by seeing them clairvoy- 
antly, by hearing their voices clairaudiently, and by 
feeling their magnetic presence. 

Clairvoyance is clear seeing. It is about as im- 
possible to convey the full meaning of clairvoy- 
ance to one who does not possess this fac- 
ulty as it would be to explain the different col- 
ors of the rainbow to a person who was born without 
eyes ; and yet it is an easy thing to prove that clair- 
voyance is a fact. I often see my spirit helpers clair- 
voyantly, and their forms are as familiar to me as the 
members of my own household who dwell in the phys- 
ical form. Objective clairvoyance is the discerning of 
objects not visible to the physical eyes. Subjective 
clairvoyance is mental impression of facts and things 
not to be discerned through the physical senses. 

Clairaudience is clear hearing. I hear the spirit 
voices in two ways, namely: objectively and subjec- 
tively. Objective clairaudience is not of so frequent 
occurrence with me as is subjective clairaudience. 
Spirit voices reach me often; it is a daily and often 
hourly occurrence. At times these voices are as clear 
and distinct as the voices of people on earth, while at 
other times they are indistinct and f cannot catch the 



1 H'> A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

words clearly. The spiritual telephone like the mate- 
rial telephone seems to depend upon conditions. When 
good conditions prevail we get good service and when 
poor conditions rule we get scanty or no results. In 
some cases I believe the auditory nerves are vibrated 
without there being a vibration of the tympanum. In 
subjective clairaudience the words do not reach me in 
the manner above described. They are impressed 
upon my consciousness somewhat as words and sen- 
tences are impressed upon one's mind while reading to 
himself ; the impression is strong but silent. 

Clair sentience is clear sensing. I sense the pres- 
ence of spirits as often as I see or hear them, though 
often I know their presence by all three of these spir- 
itual senses at once. It is seldom that one of my "fam- 
iliar spirits" comes into my atmosphere without my 
knowing which one it is. Some of my spirit friends 
have seen fit to withhold their names and real identity, 
for reasons which are satisfactorily explained, but I 
am as familiarly acquainted with them through their 
manifested individuality as with those others whose 
identity I have proven. There is an individual atmos- 
phere or magnetic influence that surrounds each spirit 
which is as different from all others, as I sense them, 
as human faces are different from one another as I 
see them. When a strange spirit comes into my pres- 
ence I sense it and know it as quickly and as certainly 
as when I see a person in the physical form, though I 
may not be able to describe it at all. I cannot make 
clear to one who has had no experience how I tell one 
spirit from another. I can only say I see them, I hear 
them, I feel them. Mediums have "familiar spirits" 
today exactly as they did in ancient Bible-times. 

Indian Chief and Squaw Attend Our Seance. 

"Wa-wa-sa" speaks Indian through his medium. 

At one time during the early years of our develop- 
ment we visited our good friends, Air. and Mrs. 
Micajah Willett at their farm-home in Collins, N. Y., 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 117 

near the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. At our re- 
quest they invited the Indian chief, John Armstrong, 
and his squaw to favor us with their presence at a 
seance to be held at the Willett home. To our great 
gratification they came. We wanted to know for a 
certainty if it was the Indian dialect that "Wa-wa-sa" 
spoke through me. He had told us that he was an 
Onondaga chief and we hoped to learn more about 
him. 

Chief Armstrong was a Seneca Indian and an edu- 
cated man, having graduated from one of our colleges. 
He was also a chief of the Seneca tribe of Indians. 
His squaw was an Onondaga by birth, but was raised, 
from a little child, among the Senecas and conse- 
quently was not well acquainted with her mother 
tongue. At this seance I was controlled by "Wa-wa- 
sa," and he and the squaw seemed to converse together 
quite well. They talked and laughed and seemed to 
enjoy the meeting very much. As for myself, I did 
not know a half dozen words of the Indian tongue. 
When they began their conversation "Wa-wa-sa" 
laughed heartily and turning to Mrs. Sprague said: 
"Old squaw, old chief, no good Indjun ; no talk On- 
on-da-ga good. Ha ! ha !" The seance lasted more 
than an hour, and perhaps half of the time was spent 
in the conversation between the Indian spirit control 
and this Indian chief and squaw. 

At the close of the seance Chief Armstrong said 
that we talked in the On-on-da-ga tongue, as he him- 
self could understand some of it, and his squaw under- 
stood more of it than he did ; that she could under- 
stand a great deal that "Wa-wa-sa" said ; and that 
she could understand it better than she could speak it. 
I asked these dusky people many questions and their 
answers invariably tended to prove that "Wa-wa-sa" 
was speaking in the On-on-da-ga tongue. I in- 
quired the meaning of certain words that "Wa-wa-sa" 
had often used, and especially of names that he had 
given to people. One of them is of so much interest 



118 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

thai I will record it here. I asked them to tell me the 
meaning of the word "Ke-wa-nee." After consulting 
together in their own language and having a hearty 
laugh, the chief turned to me and said: "She says it 
means 'Big Petticoat.'' This was quite a test to us, 
and "thereby hangs a tale." 

Some years before this evening's experience, while 
holding a seance, "Wa-wa-sa" controlling me, Mrs. 
Sprague gave him a long strip of red calico. He 
seemed delighted with it, and wrapping it around me 
in the form of a sash, he began a regular Indian pow- 
wow. He whooped, sang Indian songs, and executed 
what may have been the "Indian war dance," "Green 
corn dance," "Harvest dance," "Snake dance" or some 
other kind of dance, and carried on at a great rate. 
He seemed to enjoy himself very much, and at the 
same time was giving me a good sweat. I was not 
feeling well when he came, but I felt finely when the 
seance was over. Finally when he was through, he 
took the red cloth to the bureau and by signs indicated 
that he wanted it put away in the drawer. Up to this 
time "Wa-wa-sa" had never spoken one word that we 
could understand, though he had controlled me regu- 
larly at our seances for more than two years. Subse- 
quently he learned to speak English in a broken way. 

He succeeded in making Mrs. Sprague understand 
that he wanted the cloth put away in the drawer; she 
placed it there and he seemed satisfied. The next 
time "Wa-wa-sa" came he went at once to the bureau 
drawer and indicated that he wanted the red calico 
again. Mrs. Sprague had converted the cloth into 
some large aprons for our little girl Marie, and when 
she opened the bureau drawer and showed him that it 
was gone, he seemed greatly distressed. But when 
she showed him the large red aprons she had made 
from his sash he was so grieved that the tears ran 
down my cheeks. He muttered Indian words, unin- 
telligible to us, and went away apparently in great 
sorrow. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 119 

After he had left us ''Old Doc-tor" came and told us 
that "Wa-wa-sa" felt sorry because he thought Mrs. 
Sprague had wronged him ; that she had given him the 
red cloth and then had taken it away from him. He 
said : " 'Wa-wa-sa' think you lie squaw. He love 
you. He no like you lie squaw. 'Wa-wa-sa' feel too 
bad squaw." Mrs. Sprague explained that she did not 
intend to give the cloth to "Wa-wa-sa ;" that she only 
let him take it just to see what he would do with it, 
and requested 'Old Doc-tor" to tell him so. We heard 
no more about the matter. "Wa-wa-sa" came regu- 
larly. He was not quite so jolly as usual at first 
though he soon resumed his usual happy spirit. He 
always treated Marie kindly, even manifesting love 
and tenderness toward her, and soon after the incident 
recorded above, he gave her the Indian name of "Ke- 
wa-nee," and has always called her by that name since. 

Now to return to the seance held at Mr. and Mrs. 
Willett's home. After it was over, as has been stated, 
we asked our Indian friends to tell us the meaning of 
"Ke-wa-nee" and they said it was "Big Petticoat." 
"Wa-wa-sa" had evidently given the little girl this 
name on account of the fact that she had been given 
the red cloth for her big aprons, or as he would call 
them in the Indian name "Big Petticoats." "Wa-wa- 
sa" gave Indian names to different persons and we 
learned from these people that each one had a definite 
meaning, and referred to some incident, circumstance, 
or experience connected with them. This seance 
proved that "Wa-wa-sa" did speak in the Indian ton- 
gue through me as his medium, and that he told the 
truth about his being of the tribe of Onondaga Indians. 
Besides this, it proves that some of the statements of 
St. Paul are possibly true. 

See Acts 11-4. "And they were all filled with the 
Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as 
the spirit gave them utterance." 



L20 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

I Restored to Life in Andersonville Prison. 

The following' statement was made to me personally 
by Mr. and Mrs. Elisha Brown, of Versailles, Cattar- 
augus Co., N. Y., and was afterwards corroborated 
in every particular by Mrs. Sarah Farnsworth, of 
Brant, N. Y., and also by others. Mrs. Sarah Farns- 
worth was a medium, and during the War of the Re- 
bellion of 18(31 to 1805 (I did not get the exact date 
of the occurrence), on a certain day she went to Ver- 
sailles to do some shopping at the store of Mr. and 
Mrs. Brown. They invited Mrs. Farnsworth* to take 
dinner with them, and while at the table a control, who 
claimed to be a nephew of Mr. Brown's, who was 
in the army at that time, took possession of her. 

This control stated that he had been taken prisoner 
and placed in Andersonville prison, and it was sup- 
posed that he had starved to death. He personated 
through Mrs. Farnsworth eating an enormous dinner. 
He seemed starved and acted almost ravenous for food. 
The medium ate so much that Mr. and Mrs. Brown 
feared it would make her sick. The control conversed 
freely while eating and becoming satisfied, bid them 
good-bye and withdrew. The medium felt no incon- 
venience afterw r ard from the very hearty dinner she 
had eaten. The Brown's were satisfied that they had 
visited with their nephew, and that he had died from 
starvation in Andersonville prison. 

After a few months Mr. and Mrs. Brown were one 
day greatly surprised when their nephew entered their 
home, having returned from the war as an exchanged 
prisoner from Andersonville prison. Subsequently in 
discussing the matter, the nephew inquired as to the 
time this thing had occurred, and when they told him, 
he related a strange experience relative to himself. 

He said he had been in Andersonville prison where 
he had become so thin and poor from starvation that 
he could hardly drag himself about; that he was lit- 
erally starving to death. He became so emaciated 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 121 

that he was scarcely more than a shadow when one 
day, being' too weak to walk, he started to crawl to the 
spring to get a drink of water. While crawling along 
he fell over and apparently died. One of his comrades 
threw a blanket over him, thinking he was dead, and 
that his body would be removed later. After a while 
he came to consciousness, arose to his feet and told 
his friend that he had been home to Uncle Elisha 
Brown's and had eaten a good dinner at Aunt Mar- 
ion's table. He was much stronger after this experi- 
ence. Sometime after his return, Mrs. Farnsworth 
was visiting at Mr. and Mrs. Brown's and the ques- 
tion arose as to the time that Mrs. Farnsworth was 
controlled to personate the soldier boy, and she told 
them how they could ascertain for a certainty. She 
said she had bought a gingham dress at their store 
that day and they had charged it to her account on 
their books. Mr. Brown then looked it up, and found 
that the date corresponded with the date as shown in 
the nephew's diary, in which he had made a record of 
his experience in the prison as given above. Let me 
repeat that the date recorded in his diary was the same 
as the date on Mr. Brown's books when the gingham 
dress was bought and charged to Mrs. Farnsworth, 
and was the same date that Mrs. Farnsworth was con- 
trolled at their table. This settles the question of date 
that the soldier boy's apparent death in the Anderson- 
ville prison and Mrs. Farnsworth's personation of the 
soldier boy, occurred on the same day. 

The soldier boy's diary enumerated the different 
kinds of food of which he said he had partaken at Mrs. 
Brown's table. And strange to say, his record enu- 
merated every article that Mrs. Farnsworth had eaten 
at that table, and one article besides, namely: "Thick- 
ened milk," which article of food was not on the table, 
but there was "milk gravy" on the table which in fact 
is milk made thick with flour and is used as a dressing 
for potatoes. The soldier boy declared to his com- 
rade that the meal he ate at Uncle Elisha's saved his 



122 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

life, and it would seem that it did. The truth of the 
foregoing statements is unquestionable. These three 
witnesses are people of truth and veracity. They are 
numbered among" the most reliable people of the com- 
munity in which they reside. 

The truth of the above statements having been es- 
tablished, the question now arises as to how can they 
be explained? We answer: Like all other phenomena 
of nature, they are not easily explained. If we ask 
the chemist to explain wdiy it is that 88 9/10 parts of 
oxygen, and 11 1/10 parts of hydrogen, by weight, 
when united, produce water, which is visible, he will 
tell us that he does not know, but he will also tell us 
that it will do it every time, and nothing can stop it if 
the right conditions are made. So it is with occult 
phenomena. When conditions are made, whether we 
understand them or not, the results will be the same. 

In the case in question, the conditions were made 
and the results followed. No philosophy on earth, re- 
ligious or otherwise, excepting the philosophy of Mod- 
ern Spiritualism, makes even an attempt to explain 
these phenomena. Other religions have told the peo- 
ple of the world about them, and then have forbidden 
their investigation, and following this, have told them 
that if they did not believe them to be true and as com- 
ing from God, they would be forever tortured for their 
unbelief. 

For ages such phenomena have been relegated to 
the realm of miracle, and accredited to the gods. 
Spiritualism does not teach the doctrine of miracles 
nor deal in them. It was the first to analyze the so- 
called miracles ; the first to discover that they are nat- 
ural phenomena, and that whenever one of these man- 
ifestations occurs there is an angel at the other end 
of the line who is acting in conformity with natural 
law in its production. 

In the case above related, it is probable that a spirit 
took control of the apparently dying soldier boy in the 
prison, and another spirit took control of Mrs. Farns- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 12-3 

worth at the dinner table at Versailles, N. Y. The 
people sitting around the table completed the circle 
and formed the battery. Mrs. Farnsworth was the 
medium for this side of life, and her "Familiar spirit" 
was the medium for the spirit side of life. Through 
Airs. Farnsworth the battery containing the sustaining 
elements of the food, the magnetic and vital forces of 
the circle, were, by the "familiar spirit," transmitted 
to and absorbed into the soldier boy's body while the 
spirit held it in a trance. The spirit of the soldier 
boy was at the circle at Mr. and Mrs. Brown's dinner 
table, though the connection between his spirit and his 
body had not been severed. The "familiar spirit" was 
holding the spirit of the boy under subjection, causing 
him to see and know all that was transpiring at the 
table, while he acted as his mouthpiece speaking 
through Mrs. Farnsworth. This was a case similar to 
the one mentioned in Chap. VIII. of this book, which 
tells how little Neddie Hawkins was cured of scarlet 
fever by spirit-power. 

The novice and skeptic may say that "The explana- 
tion does not explain." Perhaps it does not explain to 
them. Electricity does not explain wireless teleg- 
raphy, and wireles telegraphy does not explain elec- 
tricity to such as they. Even those people who are 
living this life cannot tell what life is. To understand 
spiritual things it is necessary to study the laws un- 
derlying the spiritual manifestations. Spiritual Sci- 
ence is the key that unlocks all of these mysteries, and 
the wisest students have only unlocked the door to 
them thus far. 

Mother Pray's Transition. 

Mrs. Sprague's mother, Emily Pray, lived with us 
at the time of our conversion to Spiritualism. She 
was a devout Christian and spent her sabbaths reading 
her Bible. Mother was poor in health and a cripple 
the last sixteen years of her earthly life, having fallen 



1 % I A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

on the ice and broken her hip, which caused her to 
lose the use of her limb, compelling her to use crutches. 
A few years later she lost her sight and for the last 
six years of her stay with us she was totally blind. 
Poor, dear mother ! How patient she was under her 
severe afflictions. 

Her greatest comfort was in listening to the spirit- 
friends as they taught us the beautiful truths of the 
Spiritual Philosophy. She would sit in her rocking 
chair and drink in every word, forgetting her ailments 
for the time. When her beloved spirit friends, her 
father, mother, sisters, brothers, husband and children, 
each in turn came to cheer her, bringing encourage- 
ment and hope for the future, her poor sightless eyes 
would fill with tears as she thanked these dear spirit- 
friends for their comforting words of promise. Spir- 
itualism was indeed a boon and a blessing to our be- 
loved mother. 

After some years she went to live with her son, L. 
J. Pray, in Michigan, where, after three more years of 
waiting, the spirit friends came for her, and on Nov. 
21, 1890, she passed to the higher life. Just before she 
passed away we received a telegram from our brother 
stating that mother was very sick and was liable to 
pass away. The telegram was delayed, and we did not 
get it until eight o'clock Thursday, the next morning 
after it was sent. At ten o'clock, Friday morning, 
Mrs. Sprague wrote a question on a slip of paper, 
folded it and placed in in my hand. I took a pencil 
and, under spirit influence, wrote as follows : "Your 
mother passed away this morning." This was fol- 
lowed with a short poem breathing forth sympathy 
and encouragement, with the closing words : "She's 
gone, she's gone ; no pain, no suffering, like one gone 
to sleep." This all occurred on Friday, and we heard 
no more of the matter until the Monday morning fol- 
lowing, when we received a letter from Brother L. J. 
Pray telling us that Mother passed away on Friday 
morning at five o'clock, and that she was unconscious 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 125 

for forty-eight hours before she ceased breathing. 
Then followed the same words that our spirit friends 
had written, namely: "She gone, she's gone. No pain, 
no suffering, like one gone to sleep." 

While I was writing an answer to Airs. Sprague's 
question, on that Friday morning, she was having a 
vision. She saw mother sitting in a rocking chair. 
It was lined with something soft and fleecy in appear- 
ance. There was a sweet smile on her face, her eyes 
were beautiful and clear, and she said: "Child, weep 
not for me, I am free and happy now." This vision 
gave us comfort. Mrs. Sprague seemed reconciled to 
the separation for we knew that she was happy and 
was with her loved ones who had preceded her. A 
long and sad life of earth had prepared her sweet 
spirit for the joys of summerland. 

She returned to us often, told of her experience in 
passing over, of her reception in spirit life, and brought 
loving and comforting messages. She told us of the 
joy that thrilled her soul when her sight was restored, 
and she could see the beauties of the spirit-world. 
Poor dear mother, she must have been rilled to over- 
flowing with thankfulness to the All Wise Power that 
had given her back her sight after the six long years 
of wandering in darkness in the earthly sphere. She 
also told us of her freedom to move at will, that now 
she did not have to use crutches or even walk as she. 
used to in earth life, but could go from place to place 
with ease and grace, just by the application of her will. 
She said that her new or spirit-body was perfect, and 
that she was happy with her own loved ones in sum- 
merland. She often expressed the wish to reach her 
other children and friends and teach them the beauti- 
ful and exalting truths that she had learned. 

This is one of the joys and satisfactions incident to 
our mediumistic experiences. Death has indeed 
blessed our angel mother. 



12 G A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Spirit Guarantees Expenses — Wilson Foretells Losses, 
etc. — Bijah W., a Christian Spirit, Manifests — 
Evidence of Spirit Power — Little Emma Carney's 
Vision — Mrs. Carney's Prophetic Dream — A 
Wonderful Seance. 



Spirit Guarantees Expenses. 

One evening in July, 1889, E. V. Wilson came to 
our circle and said he would like to have us attend the 
Lily Dale Camp-meeting at Cassadaga, N. Y., begin- 
ning the second week of the session and remaining 
until its close. Mrs. S. told him that we did not feel 
that we were financially able to do so. He said if we 
would give readings and hold circles while we were 
there, he would guarantee that we would make our ex- 
penses. We agreed to this, and taking our daughter 
Marie with us, we went to Lily Dale. 

We spent nearly four weeks at this lovely Spiritual- 
istic camp-meeting. We held seances and gave pri- 
vate readings as agreed upon, and after leaving the 
camp grounds and investigating the contents of our 
pocket-book we found that Wilson's guarantee had 
been fulfilled to a cent. The board and room for three 
persons and stable and feed for the horse, together 
with all incidental expenses, just balanced the receipts. 
And thus the evidence of the power of spirits to act, 
influence and direct things on the physical plane is 
shown. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 127 

Spirit Gives Advice on Business — Foretells Losses, 

Etc. 

The first time we visited the Spiritualist camp-meet- 
ing at Mantua, Ohio, when we stepped off the train at 
that place, a tall man met us and said : "I am Dr. 
Ball. I know you but you may not remember me. I 
met you at Lily Dale five years ago. If I had taken 
the advice of your spirit-guide, E. V. Wilson, at that 
time, I would be the possessor of two thousand dol- 
lars more than I now have." He said that he attended 
several of our seances there, and Mr. Wilson told him 
about the business that he was then engaged in and 
said that he would change it and move to a town of 
one thousand inhabitants where he would take up an 
entirely different business. This proved true. He 
left his old home and his medical practice, came to 
Mantua and bought a drug store, in which business he 
was then engaged." 

Dr. Ball said that Brother Wilson described an old 
grist mill in which he was interested at that time, and 
said that all he had put into that busines was lost ; that 
he had better let it go and put no more money into it. 
for if he did he would lose it. Dr. Ball said that he 
had invested five hundred dollars in that old grist mill, 
and after meeting us at Lily Dale, in the hope of sav- 
ing it, he had invested two thousand five hundred dol- 
lars more in it. Later, when the business was settled 
up he received five hundred dollars ; his two thousand 
five hundred dollars were gone. He said that he 
should have more confidence in Wilson hereafter. 

I wonder if this would be called "Commercial Me- 
dinmship?" If so, I was a commercial medium. 

Bijah W. a Christian Spirit. 

A strange spirit who manifested great religious 
prejudice and narrowness came to our circle one even- 
ing. He urged those present to join the Church and 
become Christians. He talked glibly about his church, 



L28 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Deacon So-and-so, and Elder Blank Blank, and said 
we must all "come to Jesus if we would be saved." 
Members of the circle tried to discuss the question 
with him. but he would not listen at first. They gave 
him a few advanced ideas, which to him seemed ter- 
rible, and finally asked if he had found Jesus. This 
question seemed to dampen his ardor for a moment, 
and stammering he said he had not, but he hoped to 
be permitted to find him soon. He was informed of 
our belief that Jesus was only a man, a good man and 
a medium as well as a mediator, etc. The interview 
brought out the statement that his name was Bijah 
W. ; that he was in earth life a Baptist, a deacon in 
the church, a farmer, and that his home was near Fall 
River, Mass. 

This spirit left us and we heard no more from him 
until a year or more later, when Mrs. Anna Kimball, 
a well known medium, came to our place and held a 
seance. She was a stranger to us and could not have 
known of this circumstance. When she was under the 
control of an Indian spirit she said that there was a 
spirit present who came to thank me for what I had 
done for him ; that he had come to me before when he 
was in darkness ; that through me he had gained the 
light ; that he was a farmer and a very narrow-minded 
Christian man in this life, and that I had done much 
in helping him to extricate himself from the bonds of 
ignorance and superstition. She said : "You know 
him brave; you know him. His name is Bijah W., 
but he doesn't want to tell his whole name. He comes 
with his heart full of thankfulness to you, and he 
brings you his blessing." 

It seems that he was searching for his Savior, but 
could not find him, and that in coming to our seance 
he had been aided to find a way to save himself. Bijah 
W. was a "Spirit in prison," though in earth life he 
was an enthusiastic member of the Christian church. 
He did not find his Savior and returned to a Spirit- 
ualist seance to get the light, as this occurrence amply 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 121) 

proves. In this experience we find a basis for the 
Bible teaching that Jesus preached to the spirits in 
prison." 

"By which he (Jesus) went and preached to the 
spirits in prison/' (1st Peter III Chapter, 19th verse. 
See also IV Chapter, 6th verse). 

Evidence of Spirit-Power. 

The spirit-friends encouraged me to study watch 
repairing. Their sole purpose in doing so I can now 
plainly see was to get us to leave North Collins, N. 
Y., and go to some larger place where we could both 
do more public work for Spiritualism. 

I secured some watchmakers' tools and subscribed 
for four watchmakers' magazines, one of which gave 
premiums for the best article on different kinds of 
watch repairing, such as the best method of cleaning, 
main-springing, making and inserting a balance staff, 
pivoting, hairspringing, adjusting, etc. I studied 
these methods diligently and spent nearly all of my 
spare time in practicing the various methods suggested 
by the writers of these articles. I secured other books 
upon the subject; among them was one entitled "Three 
Hundred Reasons Why a Watch Stops." 

I said nothing to my neighbors about it, and when I 
bought the jewelry store and photograph business of 
Mr. Scott, at North Collins, N. Y., and took posses- 
sion of it, on being asked who I was going to have do 
my jewelry repairing, I surprised them by saying that 
I would do it myself. 

I received my full share of patronage and succeeded 
well in the work, carrying on the business for about 
two years before selling out. I received much help in 
the work of repairing- watches. The spirit-friends 
often showed me the defects in a watch and impressed 
me with the best method to use in repairing it. I will 
speak of but one experience of this kind here, though 
I had many such, but this will explain the method used 
by them in many instances. A gentleman from Gow- 



L30 A F U T V RE LIFE DEMON STRATED. 

anda, N. Y., brought me a fine watch which he said he 
had paid three watchmakers for repairing, and still it 
would not keep time. He said if I did not make it 
keep time he would give up trying to do anything with 
it. I spent a large part of one day in trying to dis- 
cover what was wrong with the watch. I took it 
down three times and examined carefully every piece 
trying to find the defect but failed. I placed it under 
cover and gave it up for the time. 

The next morning on coming to work I stood in 
front of my bench a few minutes when my eyes fell 
upon this watch that had baffled three other watchmak- 
ers and had caused me to spend so much time without 
discovering its defect. I placed the watch to my fore- 
head, closed my eyes and mentally asked my spirit- 
helpers if they would show me what was the reason 
the watch would not keep time. A spirit voice spoke 
to me, saying : "A loose balance screw," "a loose bal- 
ance screw." I at once examined the balance screws 
and discovered that one of them had become un- 
screwed until it came out so far that when the watch 
was in a certain position the screw would rub against 
the balance-cock retarding the motion of the balance, 
but on changing the position of the watch in the least 
it would move on in perfect beat. This made it hard 
to discover when one was not looking for this one of 
three hundred reasons why a watch stops. I took a 
screw driver and turned in the screw a little which 
remedied the defect and the watch was doing good 
service again. 

I could relate many similar experiences of spirit as- 
sistance that have been mine. My having learned the 
watch repairing business was a factor in helping to 
lead me to move from North Collins to Jamestown, N. 
Y., and eventually to enter the public work of Spirit- 
ualism as my only occupation. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 13 1 

Little Emma Carney's Vision. 

Mrs. Sprague's sister, Patience Carney, with her 
three little children lived in Dowagiac, Mich., during 
the time of the War of the Rebellion. Mrs. Carney's 
husband, Lyman Carney, was a soldier serving in the 
Union army. Their youngest child, little Emma Car- 
ney, was taken sick with inflammation of the brain 
and passed away. She was two years old the day she 
died. 

The evening before she died she reached up her little 
hands and cried out: "O papa! Papa, my papa!'' 
She evidently saw him. Just before she passed away a 
sweet smile spread over her little face, then her eyes 
became glassy, the breath grew shorter and shorter 
until dear little Emma was gone. The sweet smile 
was left upon the little darling's face as an evidence 
that she saw something pleasing at the last. Perhaps 
it was her papa whom she saw the night before. 

Three weeks later Mrs. Carney received a letter 
from Capt. Smith, telling her that Lyman Carney was 
shot through the lungs on March 5th in the morning, 
and expired in a few minutes. This proves that little 
Emma's papa was "dead" at the time she saw him 
while on her death bed. No one in Dowagiac knew 
of Mr. Carney's transition, and his family did not learn 
of it until three weeks later. Verily, "Out of the 
mouths of babes," etc. 

Little Emma's death-bed vision was not the result 
of her having been taught Spiritualism. She was but 
two years old and had never heard of it. Even if she 
had heard of it, it would have been impossible for her 
at the age of two years to have comprehended it. 

Here was a pure and placid mind, an honest and 
innocent little angel clothed in mortal form, furnish- 
ing evidence of a continued life. What stronger evi- 
dence of a future life could be given? Such records 
are too numerous, and have come too often to all 
classes of people in every country and in every age, to 



1 32 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

be turned idly aside or ignored. The hair brained 
dude, the high-headed egotist, or the pseudo scientist, 
may call it "Disordered mind," ''Diseased brain," "Im- 
agination," etc., hut the mighty fact remains that such 
phenomena as these are evidences of a future life. 

Mrs. Carney's Prophetic Dream. 

What T am about to relate occurred to little Emma's 
mother just before Emma's death-bed vision. 

At Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Sunday, March 22, 1896, 
Mrs. Patience Carney-McClarey, Mrs. Sprague's sis- 
ter, told me of the following experience : She said 
that on the fifth day of March, 1863, early in the 
morning she dreamed that there was a battle being" 
fought between the armies of the North and the South. 
She could hear the firing of the guns, but would not 
go to the door for fear she would see her husband 
shot. Pretty soon someone came and said : "Lyman 
Carney has been shot." She began to cry. Her 
friends tried to pacify her saying: "Maybe he is not 
dead." But soon four men came bringing him on a 
stretcher. He was "dead." He had been shot. This 
so overcome her that she screamed and cried, and 
wrung her hands, but finally awoke to find that it was 
a dream. It was so real that she could not get over it. 
The dream haunted her, whether waking or sleeping. 

Three weeks later she received a letter from Capt. 
Joel Smith, saying: "Lyman Carney was shot through 
the ln'ngs on March 5th, in the morning, and expired in 
a few minutes." This good woman then experienced 
the screaming, crying and wringing of her hands, just 
as it seemed to her in her dream. For a time she was 
almost insane with grief. This dream occurred but 
a few hours before Lyman Carney's death. It was a 
prophetic dream, as it was literally fulfilled three 
weeks later when the news of her husband's death 
readied her. 

When Lyman Carney's regiment was ordered to the 
front and when he was bidding his mother-in-law, 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 133 

Emily Pray, good-bye. she said: "Lyman, I shall 
never see you again in this world." "O, pshaw, 
mother!" said he, "I will soon return all right!" "No, 
Lyman," said she, ''You will be killed in the first battle 
you are in." And this prophecy proved true. 

Xow the question arises : Was this dream and this 
prophecy a revelation by spirits, a premonition or pre- 
sentment produced by their spirit-friends, or a coin- 
cidence? We believe it was the former, and we 
believe it because we have had too many similar ex- 
periences ; too many proofs that our spirit friends, in 
various ways, do foretell future occurrences, to place 
it in the category of concidences. If it is true that 
these facts were foreseen, as they absolutely were, is 
it true that mankind are ruled by the hand of fate or 
destiny ? 

Lyman Carney belonged to the 19th Michigan In- 
fantry, Company A. He was killed at the battle of 
Spring Hill (or Spring Run), Tennessee, fourteen 
miles from Nashville, on March 5th, 1863, in the 
morning. 

A Wonderful Seance. 

On Saturday, March 21, 1896, Mrs. Sprague's sis- 
ter, Patience Carney-McClarey, of Warsaw, Ind., 
came to visit us at Ft. Wayne, Ind. In the evening 
we called at the home of Mr. A. A. Finney, the medium. 
The conversation soon drifted to the subject of Spirit- 
ualism, and Mrs. McClarey expressed a desire to some- 
time witness some of the phenomena of which we had 
told her. So Mr. Finney was induced to hold a seance 
for her benefit. 

We sat around a table upon which was placed a 
trumpet and a guitar. Air. Finney sat facing Mrs. 
McClarey and took both her hands in his, holding 
them throughout the entire time of the seance. The 
lights were turned out and soon after, the trumpet 
was carried to the ceiling and one calling himself 
"Johnnie Williams," one of Mr. Finney's Spirit help- 



134 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

ers, greeted us, evidently speaking- through the 
trumpet. 

Following this manifestation, Mrs. Mc'Clarey's 
spirit friends came one after the other and talked to 
her. Some of the time two or three would be talking 
at the same time — one apparently through the trumpet 
and one or two by independent voices — and the sounds 
came from different parts of the room. 

Mrs. McClarey's three sisters, two daughters, father, 
mother and others came, giving their names • and 
loving messages to our dear sister. Hands were 
placed in the hands of the sitters. Every one was 
touched by these spirit hands. 

Following these manifestations there came a drum- 
ming or clattering sound upon the table, and Mrs. 
McClarey said: "I know who that is. He is imitating 
playing the bones. He used to do that in this life." 
Following this came three raps upon the table, mean- 
ing yes. Then came the most remarkable manifesta- 
tions I have ever heard in a dark seance. It was the 
imitation of a battle. There was music, the rolling- 
sound of the snare drum, the regular beating of the 
bass drum, the call of the bugle, the rattle of musketry 
and the booming of cannon. The contending forces 
seemed to surge backward and forward from side to 
side of the room, and as the struggle progressed from 
time to time a strong, heavy voice gave commands 
through the trumpet, which seemed to be moving from 
side to side along the ceiling. Oh, that I had the 
language to express the grandeur of this wonderful 
manifestation of spirit power! 

There seems to have been a special purpose in these 
manifestations. The spirit friends said that they 
brought them to prove to his wife — then Mrs. Mc- 
Clarey — that, though he was shot and killed in battle 
nearly thirty-three years before, he still lived and was 
her Lyman ; that neither death nor time could separate 
them." 

Mrs. McClarey was made very happy by this experi- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED 135 

ence. After she reached her home she wrote us that 
she was happier now than she had been for years. 
That since that seance she had lost that awful fear of 
death which had haunted her through life, and that 
she was now satisfied that her dear Lyman would 
meet her when she crossed the shining river. Oh, how 
beautiful and comforting is Modern Spiritualism ! 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Meetings in Jamestown, N. Y. — Letter from Hon. 
A. E. Doty — Spirit Messages in Lockport, N. Y. 
— The Cause in Allegheny, Pa. — A Spiritualists's 
Death and Funeral — Our First Campmeeting En- 
Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. 



Meetings in Jamestown. 

Sunday, December 10, 1893, at one of our regular 
meetings in Gokey Hall, Jamestown, N. Y., while 
speaking for the First Spiritualist Society, the follow- 
ing questions were presented to be used as a basis 
for our discourse : "What Evidence Is There to Prove 
That There Is a God?" "Do My Loved Ones Live 
Beyond the Grave?" "Is There a Hell?" "Can I 
communicate With My Loved Ones?" 

The lecture was well received, and at its close we 
spoke as follows : "In answering your questions we 
have said that mortals can under proper conditions 
communicate with those called dead. We will now 
attempt to prove it." 

1st, pointing to Mr. B., we said: "The spirit 
of a large man goes down the aisle to you, 
sir. He is an old man, larger than the medium, 
with broad shoulders, and one who walked with a 
cane in earth life. Pie says you are his son. He 



136 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

now holds up to my view a logal paper; it is a will. 
He makes a eross on the face of the document and 
says he would like to cross it out. He is not satisfied 
with the way his property has gone. He is your 
father." The gentleman said : "That is a good descrip- 
tion of my father. He walked with a cane and what 
you say about the will is also all right." 

2nd. To Mrs. P., who was a total stranger to me, 
I said : "I see over your head a paper scroll. It is 
beautiful pen work. A border of flowers is around 
the top. It is a family register. Four names are 
more prominent than the others ; two of them are 
of your brothers and two of your sisters. Three of 
the last names are alike ; the other one is different. 
This influence leaves me and I sense another. It is 
brought by the spirit of a man whose brain seems 
to be on fire. He is a man of intelligence and culture, 
a young man, at least not quite middle-aged. I see 
him sitting at a writing desk. He is writing rapidly. 
Oh ! there is an explosion and he is blown to pieces. 
This was five years ago. 

''There is a young man in your home who is pe- 
culiar in his mental make-up. There was a terrible 
commotion in the home before his birth which caused 
his condition. This spirit seems very solicitous of this 
boy." We said more to this lady, and she replied, 
saying: "It is all true. My husband was killed by 
an explosion of dynamite as he sat at a desk writing, 
as you saw him. You have told the truth in all you 
have said." The lady was deeply moved and tears 
came to her relief. 

3rd. 1 am directed to some one in this part of the 
house (pointing). A spirit giving the name of Mary 
is calling for Charley." A gentleman arose and began 
to speak, but we interrupted him, saying: "Yes, 
sir ; it is you she wants, and Mary is your sister." 
The gentleman stated that his name was Charley, and 
that he had a sister named Mary who had died. 

Ith. We turned our back to the audience and re- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 137 

quested that some gentleman rise in his seat, speak 
a few words and sit down. A man did so, and we 
said: "Sir. you are a young man, but you have seen 
much of the world. You have a trade which occupies 
your time. You were apprenticed when quite young, 
but did not complete your trade with that master ; 
you completed it elsewhere. You are quite inclined to 
build air castles and are now thinking of changing 
your business. You are a great joker, and always 
enjoy a joke, especially when the joke is on the other 
fellow," etc. "Please state to the audience whether 
we are correct or not in our statements." 

The gentleman said : "It is all correct excepting the 
statement that I am thinking of changing my business." 

"Now," said we, "let us analyze this reading*. With- 
out seeing the gentleman we made the following state- 
ments : 

First, that he was a young man ; second, that he 
had seen considerable of the world ; third, that he 
had learned a trade ; fourth, that he was apprenticed 
when quite young; fifth, that he did not complete his 
trade with that master; sixth, that he did complete it 
elsewhere ; seventh, that he was a builder of air castles ; 
eighth, that he was a great joker, and, ninth, that he 
was thinking of changing his business. 

Eight of these statements were pronounced correct 
by the gentleman and one incorrect. 

5th. A lady handed us a handkerchief, and we said : 
"The owner of this handkerchief has a strong love 
nature. She is one that feels deeply for the suffering; 
is pleasant and affable : has great firmness ; one that 
cannot be driven by the will of another ; is easily led 
by kindness. She is very sensitive, is a natural nurse 
and a born healer. Her deep love nature and large 
sympathies are a healing balm for the sick. She has 
made a change in location in the last eighteen months 
that has brought greatly changed conditions into her 
life. She has great responsibilities devolving upon her 
at the present time. She has an old lady under her 



138 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED, 

care in her home now ; it is her mother and she is 
sick. Will the owner of the handkerchief please re- 
spond to the reading"?" Tke lady arose and said: "The 
reading 1 is correct in its entirety. The old lady you 
saw in my home is my mother." 

We have recorded but five of the most common- 
place readings from an ordinary and average seance. 
We usually give from eight to thirty such readings at 
each meeting. Many of the finest things that were 
given in our seances in those days were lost, as I was 
usually in a trance while giving the messages. Mrs. 
Spragtie and our daughter would sometimes jot down 
what we gave, and often those who received them 
would at the close of the meeting tell me what they 
had received, and I would make a note of their 
statements. 

Letter from Hon. E. A. Doty, of Albany, N. Y. 

"E. W. Sprague, 

"1082 Trumbull Ave., 
"Detroit, Mich. 

"My Dear Friend : Your welcome letter of the 30th 
ult. was received yesterday. We are always glad 
to hear from you and Mrs. Sprague, and trust you 
will remember that you have a standing invitation to 
make our house your home whenever you can. In 
fact, circumstances seem to indicate that your assist- 
ance may be needed in the near future to aid us in 
organizing a society in this city. 

"My memory is clear in regard to much of the re- 
markable work which friend E. V. Wilson and others 
in spirit life accomplished through your mediumship 
for our society in Lockport some years ago. T recall 
the circumstance of the test given to my friend Charley 
Carter; it seems but yesterday, though Charley has 
been in spirit life for the greater part of ten years. 
You designated him as the 'portly gentleman with the 
bald head, seated next the aisle.' Friend Wilson, ad- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 139 

dressing Air. Carter, said : 'I see a lady with a little 
child standing by you, sir.' After describing them, 
he said, 'The little girl points to you and says, "That's 
my papa ! That's my papa !" We ask you, sir, is 
this your child?' Rising and speaking deliberately, 
Charley replied : "Being an old bachelor, that is rather 
a leading question.' 

"Of course the audience laughed and nothing 
further was said on the subject. But later Brother 
Wilson again addressed Mr. Carter, and said: 'Sir, 
I see the same lady with the little child standing near 
you, and we are going to ask you again, do you rec- 
ognize them and is it your child?' Mr. Carter rose 
again and said: Tn justice to the speaker, and in jus- 
tice to the spirits, I must acknowledge that it is my 
child and the test is correct.' Turning to the audience, 
Brother Wilson said to the skeptics: 'You have had 
your laugh, and it is now our turn ; but we will not 
laugh ; the case is too serious.' 

"Several members of the Board of Supervisors, of 
which I was one, attended a week-day evening meet- 
ing, and my friend Joseph Turner, of the Second ward 
of the city, will never forget the test given him on 
that occasion. 

"With your back to the audience, a request was 
made that some one rise and give the date of his birth. 
Supervisor Turner responded. Brother Wilson said, 
'Be seated' : when you again faced the audience he 
proceeded to say: 'Sir, before you were born some- 
thing happened in your father's family which made 
your mother wish she was dead ; and this condition 
has left its impression upon you, so that at times you 
are melancholy. By your will power you succeed in 
disguising your real mental condition, and very few 
of your friends suspect that you ever feel blue. Sir, 
you have a letter in your pocket relating to an elec- 
trical invention, in which you are interested; it will 
prove quite a success. Now you want to know how 
we know these things. It is the spirit of your uncle 



140 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

who stands by your side who tells me this. He tells 
me that he came to this country soon after the war, 
and that he saw yon twenty-two years ago.' Mr. 
Turner responded: 'He is mistaken in the time; it is 
seventeen years ago that we met.' Brother Wilson 
replied with much emphasis: 'Sir, before you leave 
this hall you will recall incidents which will con- 
vince you that your uncle is right and you are wrong.' 

"The circumstance which caused his mother — Mrs. 
Turner — to wish she was dead, was the maiming of 
the father's hand while at work in a mill. The letter 
in regard to the electrical invention was from Turner's 
brother, and had been received the afternoon of the 
same day; it spoke of a successful experiment with 
a switchboard on which both of the brothers had been 
working. Mr. Turner did acknowledge his mistake 
in reference to dates, which fact he arrived at by 
reference to the birth of his children. In describing 
the spirit uncle, I omitted to state that Brother Wilson 
said, 'He wears an overcoat with a cape which reaches 
down to his finger-tips ;' all of which was verified as 
correct in every detail. 

"I also want to tell you of a remarkable prophecy 
given through your mediumship by Brother E. V. 
Wilson at our home, No. 34 Cave street, Lockport, 
N. Y., on the evening of January 7, 1894. You and 
I were seated alone in the parlor, and when Brother 
Wilson came I asked him what he saw for the future 
of Lockport. After a brief pause he replied : 'During 
the present session of your State Legislature a law 
will be enacted which will eventually enhance the 
value in and around this city.' In the month of May 
following, on or about the 21st, Governor Roswell P. 
Flower signed the Niagara, Lockport & Ontario Power 
Company's bill, which had not been introduced at the 
time the prophecy was made. After the bill was passed 
it encountered determined opposition, but was finally 
signed by the Governor when the argument was pre- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 1-tl 

sented that, in case of its being vetoed, it would drive 
American capital into Canada. 

"On one occasion, when you were entranced, Dr. 
E. W. Gantt, an accomplished gentleman residing in 
our city of Lockport, handed a cane to you. He was 
told: 'Sir, this cane once belonged to a gentleman who 
tells me he is your father. He is standing near you.' 
Then followed a description of the spirit, which Dr. 
Gantt recognized as correct in every respect. 

"I recall that in one of your lectures you said in 
substance : 'Sometimes another person speaking will 
have the same effect as crossing the wires of the tele- 
phone, and the message will be for the one whose 
voice interrupted the original reading.' You held the 
hand of Mr. E. J. Taylor, an attorney, and gave him 
an accurate reading. Some things were so compli- 
mentary that when asked, 'What have you to say, sir, 
as to the truth of what we have said?' Mr. Taylor 
hesitated, and I answered, acknowledging the accuracy 
of the reading. Brother Wilson continued : 'Five 
times I see you near death's door. Once you fell from 
a swing ; once you fell from a horse ; once you came 
near drowning; once your horse ran away and you 
were picked up in an unconscious state. Now I see 
an oil derrick and debris in the air ; there has been an 
explosion.' Mr. Taylor could not recognize the latter 
part of the reading, but it fitted my case to a fraction, 
as every experience of being near death's door which 
he named had been mine ; the wires had been crossed 
by my speaking for Mr. Taylor. 

"Spirit Wilson's reference to the 'oil derrick, the 
debris in the air, and the explosion,' was an especially 
vivid and accurately described occurrence, primarily 
caused by a defective steam gauge. In the early part 
of the year 1SG9 I was employed by Long Bros., who 
were engaged in drilling and pumping oil wells on 
the hill between Hemlock — or Cow Run — and Bull 
Run, both of which empty into Oil creek near the 
Sherman Well post office, about nine miles below Titus- 



142 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

ville, Pa. 'Mike,' one of the firm, had been my lieu- 
tenant in the army, and he had promised me a new 
steam gauge when he should go to Titusville. 

"We were nearly ready to start drilling a new well, 
when Alike came into the engine house and, seeing 
hut fifteen pounds of steam as indicated by the gauge, 
directed me to put more fuel in the fire box, and then 
to go to another of their wells about twenty rods 
distant and there pack a piston for an inexperienced 
engineer. I called 'Mike's' attention to the defective 
gauge, and to the fact that we already had more than 
one hundred pounds of steam, as it was escaping freely 
at the safety valve. His reply was, 'I think that safety 
valve needs "grinding in." I assured him that I had 
but recently 'ground in' the valve with emery. He 
proceeded to push the weight to the extreme outer 
end of the bar which controlled the safety valve, and, 
in addition thereto, hung a heavy pair of tubing tongs 
to the bar, which effectually closed the valve. As 
I started toward the other engine house he said: 'By 
the time you have that piston packed for "Bill," we 
will have steam enough to start up.' I had but nicely 
reached my destination when a terrific explosion oc- 
curred, which completely demolished the engine house 
I had so recently left. But for the very fortunate 
circumstance of having been sent away just in time, 
I should have undoubtedly perished at my post of 
duty. Five men were at work in the derrick at the 
time of the explosion, and the heavy cast iron dome 
from the boiler crashed down through the derrick floor ; 
but none were injured. 

"I am glad you propose to publish some of your 
experiences. I shall want a copy as soon as they 
are out. With love and best wishes, ever and always 
"Your friend, 

"E. A. DOTY." 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 143 

Transition and Funeral of Mrs. M. J. Irwin at 
Pittsburg, Pa. 

During the months of October and November, 1893. 
we organized and chartered with the N. S. A. "The 
First Spiritualist Church" of Allegheny, Pa., with one 
hundred and ten members ; it is a strong active society 
today (September, 1908). On Nov. 9th, I was called to 
officiate at the funeral of Mrs. M. J. Irwin. She was a 
true Spiritualist, a good medium and a great worker 
in the cause of Modern Spiritualism. It was her re- 
quest that a Spiritualist minister be engaged to officiate 
at her funeral, and that the people be made to know 
that she died as she had lived, a true Spiritualist. 

She was privileged to see the spirit friends around 
her bed from time to time, and as she was passing 
away, she told her children, who were all present, that 
the spirits had come for her, and that she was not 
afraid to go ; that she was perfectly willing as her time 
had come. She saw and conversed with her spirit- 
husband, children and other spirit friends, about her 
coming transition. Just before she passed away she 
told her friends who the spirits were that she saw, how 
they looked, and what they said. It was a sacred time 
and place, and it was a beautiful experience to this 
dear soul who was about to leave her earthly tenement 
to enter the higher life. It was also a great consola- 
tion to her children and other loved ones of earth to 
know that the dear spirit friends had come to bear her 
to her new home. It was a comfort to them to know 
that she had no fear, but was willing and glad to go 
with them. 

Her life had been full of cares and duties ; she had 
fulfilled the blessed mission of wife and mother. Her 
beloved husband had preceded her; she had raised her 
children, and was ready to go. Her grand mother- 
hood, her noble womanhood, had blossomed into angel- 
hood. O, what a beautiful and glorious transition ! 
Some who oppose us have said : "Spiritualism will do 
to live by, but it will not do to die by." This one tran- 



Ill A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

sition of a Spiritualist disproves that statement; but 
there are thousands of such happy transitions among 
us, many of which have been recorded. All who un- 
derstand Spiritualism and its teaching's, know very well 
that no religious or ethical teachings of the world are 
better to live by, and anyone who has seen the beautiful 
transition of one of its faithful followers, like the one 
just mentioned, will understand that it is good to die 
by. Airs. Irwin was an active member of The First 
Church of Spiritualists of Pittsburg for a number of 
years. She held the office of president of the Ladies' 
Aid Society and did a great amount of good for the 
cause that was so dear to her heart. 

Our first Campmeeting Engagement — Lookout 
Mountain, Tennessee. 

Sometime in the latter part of June, 1893, I received 
a letter from Mr. Jerry Robinson, president of the 
Lookout Mountain, (Tenn.) Camp-meeting Associa- 
tion, inquiring if I would serve his association as 
speaker and platform test medium, beginning July 18th 
and remaining two Sundays ; and asking for terms. 

I had never served as a regular speaker and plat- 
form test medium at a great Spiritualist camp-meeting, 
and naturally felt nervous about accepting the position. 
In our seance that evening the question was submitted 
to E. V. Wilson, and he said : "Write at once accept- 
ing the position. You will go and will make a great 
success. Make all arrangements to go, and have no 
misgivings." I replied to Mr. Robinson giving him 
my terms, and waited for a reply. 

Misgivings and doubts would arise in my mind and 
I could not help it. Time passed and the 14th day of 
July arrived and no tidings from Mr. Robinson. I 
told Mrs. Sprague that, for the first time Mr. Wilson's 
prophecy had failed. That very day, when the mail 
was delivered, I received "The Light of Truth," a 
Spiritualist newspaper, which contained the program 
of the Lookout Mountain camp-meeting, and to my 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 145 

great surprise I was listed as one of its speakers. The 
next morning we received a letter from President Rob- 
inson, which had been delayed in transit and in which 
said: "We accept your terms, and have advertised you 
on our program ; do not fail to be with us." It seemed 
like a great undertaking for me. I felt a dread come 
over me whenever I thought of it. But I remembered 
what Mr. Wilson had said about it and I resolved to 
make the trial. If I failed, it would end the matter of 
my future work in Spiritualism outside of the vicinity 
of my home. If I succeeded, it might open the way 
into a larger field. 

On the 16th day of July, at three o'clock in the 
morning, when I arrived at the depot en route to Chat- 
tanooga and Lookout Mountain, I found my dear old 
friend A. C. Adams waiting there at that early hour, 
to bid me God speed and good-bye. His words of 
good will, encouragement and cheer made a lasting 
impression upon me, and were a sustaining influence 
in my labors at that camp meeting. I shall never for- 
get this act of kindness by my dear old friend. I went 
as far as Cincinnati and remained there over night. 
Next morning, July 17th, I left Cincinnati, riding over 
the Cumberland mountains and passing through 
twenty-seven tunnels to Chattanooga. It was one of 
the hottest and dirtiest trips by rail that I ever made. 

Conditions were made lovely for me at the cam]), 
and our work was a success. We filled a place on the 
program every day while we were there and followed 
every lecture with spirit messages and tests. 

I will record four readings, which are an average of 
them all, and were given to entire strangers. 

First — To a young man, we said: "Your brother, a 
spirit, comes to you sir. He tells me that he controls 
your hand to write, and that he will assist you in de- 
veloping other phases of mediumship. He requests 
you to sit regularly twice each week for development, 
and that promptness and punctuality govern you in the 
matter. The young man responded by saying: "It is 



1 l<» A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

true that my brother controls my hand to write. I will 
do my best to fulfill his wishes in the matter of sitting 
for development." 

Second — To Mr. J. H. Massey, of New Orleans, 
La., we said: "Your spirit wife stands beside you." 
Here we described her fully, giving her leading char- 
acteristics. We told him of an instance in which she 
helped him through a great financial crisis. Mr. Mas- 
sey verified every statement. 

Third — To a lady we said : "There are two spirits 
with you — one your little daughter, the other your sis- 
ter. We gave a full description of both of them, and 
the lady said : "You are perfectly correct, sir. I have 
a little daughter and a sister in the other world and 
you have described them both. I thank you." 

Fourth — A lady in the back part of the amphitheater 
raised her hand and snapped her finger. We saw a 
spirit beside her, and described her, saying: "She re- 
sembles you so much that I would take her to be your 
mother. We then heard the name of Alary. The lady 
could not recognize the test. She was so far away 
from us that we thought best to let it pass and call it 
a failure. 

Fifth — To a gentleman who was selected by the audi- 
ence to come forward and take the chair for a reading, 
we said : "Sir, we see you in the river near a flat 
boat struggling in the water. There is another man 
in the water with you. You are rescued, but the other 
man is drowned. You resemble your father in looks 
and stature. Your disposition and characteristics are 
like his ; in fact you are like him in every way. He is a 
spirit and is the one that has told me about the river 
accident." "Now, sir, what say you? Do you recog- 
nize all we have said, and is it true?" Answer: "It is 
all correct. Twelve years ago I was thrown into the 
water from a river boat, together with another mem- 
ber of the crew. He was drowned, but I was rescued. 
My father is dead, and your description of him is very 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 147 

accurate: I am much like him. In fact all of your 
statements are remarkably true." 

We gave many more fine tests on that occasion, but 
not having had time to talk much with the people be- 
fore our departure, and not being; fully conscious a 
part of the time while giving them, we could not recall 
them for record. We made many friends and enjoyed 
the meetings very much. Our work was thoroughly 
appreciated, and when I came to settle with the camp- 
meeting officials, they paid me ten dollars more for my 
services than was agreed upon. And thus was fulfilled 
the prophecy made by E. V. Wilson in which he said : 
"Write at once accepting the position. You will go, 
and will make a great success. Make all arrangements 
to go, and have no misgivings.'' (1 Thess. V. 19-20. 
"Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesyings.") 



CHAPTER XV. 



Leg Crushed by Horse. Vision Proves Spirit's Iden- 
tity — A Suicide Communicates — Spirit Tells of 
Man Being Shot, Shooter Hung — A Christian 
Tries to Burn His Bible — Tests at Bluffton, Indi- 
ana — Presiding Elder Poses as An Exposer of 
Spiritualism — Tests at Petroleum Center, Pa. — 
Spirit Sees, Knows and Tells of a Lodge Broth- 
er's Kindness to His Widow — Work in Carnegie 
Hall, Allegheny, Pa.— A Prophecy Made and Ful- 
filled — Convincing Messages and Tests at Erie, 
Pa. 

Leg Crushed by Horse. 

At a seance held in Dr. Bell's parlors, in Allegheny, 
Pa., Nov. 7, 1893, we gave many readings. Among 
them the following: We said: "We get the name of 
'John Wiley." Does anyone recognize it?" A gentle- 



1 IS A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

man. Mr. A., said he knew him. Then a spirit ap- 
peared before us leading a horse and we said: "This 
man before passing away, had his leg crushed by a 
horse falling upon it. He shows this to me that he 
may be identified. i He gave a message and Mr. A. 
verified our statements by saying that John Wiley had 
his leg crushed by a horse as we had stated, and that 
this was a good test, as he was not thinking of him at 
the time. 

A Suicide Communicates. 

Saturday, April 21, 1894, we held a seance in Mrs. 
Hecker's parlors in Oil City, Pa. Mrs. Sprague was 
led to personate a man who had died by poisoning. 
This spirit was in a terrible condition, but through 
controlling her he became so strong that he held her 
to converse with his brother-in-law, Mr. S., for a half 
hour. This spirit had never manifested before, though 
his spirit wife had come often to the circles held at the 
home of Mr. S., and had told them that her husband 
was not able to communicate, that "he was in the dark." 

This spirit cried terribly through Mrs. Sprague at 
first. It appeared that he could not master himself. 
But the longer he remained the better he controlled 
both himself and the medium. Before leaving her he 
expressed himself as being very thankful to her and 
to all of us for the help we had given him in allowing 
him to come and talk to us. This was another great 
lesson that Spiritualism teaches, namely : that one can- 
not get rid of himself or of his troubles by committing 
suicide ; nor can he be happy in spirit life for a long 
time after committing the cowardly act. Mediums are 
indeed saviors in such cases, as they give such ones an 
opportunity to relieve their distressed minds, and to 
reach the loved ones they have wronged. 

Spirit Tells of a Man Shot and Shooter Hung. 

While holding meetings in Little Washington, Pa., 
\\c gave private readings at the home of Mrs. E. E. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 140 

Cowley. On May 4th 1894 at four o'clock in the 
afternoon, Airs. C. rapped at my room door and said : 
"There is a gentleman here who wants to see you." I 
came into the hall and there stood a policeman in full 
uniform with the usual club attachment. I did not 
know but I was to be "taken." He said: "My name is 
O. I am a policeman and want to see you." This 
aroused something besides my curiosity and I won- 
dered what it could mean. I was much relieved when 
he added: "Not officially however." He handed me 
a letter from my friend M. 3 which proved to be a re- 
quest that I give his friend, the bearer, a reading, which 
I consented to do. On being seated in my room we 
began by describing Air. O.'s aunt, giving her name 
and relationship. We then described his grandfather. 
Following this we saw and described his wife, after 
which she controlled me and talked to him herself. 
She told him that she had brought their babe with her 
and that she was caring for it in the spirit world. Two 
sisters of this policeman's wife were described; an- 
other spirit was identified by our description by show- 
ing us an armful of carpenter's tools. He was a car- 
penter in this life. 

We told this sitter of an affray in which he had been 
shot and then described the terrible scene of a man 
being hung. "Yes," said he, "that is true ; I helped 
to get him hung, and I shall carry the scar from that 
gunshot wound to my grave." It was a wonderful 
and convincing sitting and Mr. O. was deeply im- 
pressed by it. 

Learns That His Mother Is Not in Hell — Tries to 
Burn His Bible. 

On the same day that we gave the reading men- 
tioned above, we were told that a sitting Mrs. Sprague 
had given Mrs. H. had converted her husband. He 
was a consistent Christian, and believed his creed. He 
had repeatedly said that his mother was in hell be- 
cause she had not belonged to the church. 



150 A F U TU R E LI FE DE M ( ) N ST K AT ED. 

In this sitting his parents came to Mrs. H. and this 
spirit mother told them to tell her son that she was not 
in hell ; that she was grieved to think that the boy she 
had brought into the world, nursed and cared for 
through childhood and had loved so deeply, would be 
so misled as to consign her to eternal punishment. The 
spirit told her daughter-in-law to tell her son that she 
was not in hell, that she was in heaven, and was happy 
only for the suffering caused by his belief in the relig- 
ion that consigned her to everlasting torment. She 
said she wanted to talk to him ; that she had been near 
him often ; that she loved him and felt that she must 
come to him and prove that his religion is not true; 
that God is a just God, and not a monster. It must 
have been a pitiful scene to witness. This dear spirit 
pleading to reach her boy, while the medium and the 
sitters were all shedding tears freely. 

We were told that when the wife and brother-in- 
law of Mr. H., who had received the reading with Mrs. 
Sprague, told him what his spirit mother said to them, 
he wept bitterly. He had previously said that if Spir- 
itualism was proved to him to be true, he would burn 
his bible. When he recovered his composure he asked 
the servant girl to bring him the bible, which she 
chanced to be reading. She did so, and he lighted a 
match and tried to set it on fire, but the girl snatched 
it away. 

We were told that Mr. H. was a good man, but was 
under the hypnotic influence of the church. He was a 
consistent Orthodox Christian, simply believing the 
teachings of his church : "He that believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved ; and he that believeth not shall 
be damned." (Mark xvi, 10.) This poor man was 
taught that he must believe that his mother was in 
hell ; to disbelieve the teachings of the church would 
cause him to be damned, and the teachings of Jesus 
according to this scripture, as well as of the church 
consigned this "unbelieving" mother to eternal punish- 
ment. Oh ! the awful things that have been taught in 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 151 

the name of the Christian religion. But thanks be to 
the spirit world, they are doomed to depart forever as 
the pure light of Modern Spiritualism illuminates the 
minds of men. 

Tests at Bluffton, Indiana — Presiding Elder Poses 
as Exposer of Spiritualism. 

October 6, 1891:, we held a meeting in the Univer- 
salist Church, at Bluffton, Indiana. Our subject was 
"Heredity; its Laws, and its Influence upon our lives." 
The lecture was well received and was followed with 
messages and tests. To a stranger Mr. C. C, we said : 
"Sir, you have a pain at this moment under your left 
shoulder blade. You have palpitation of the heart at 
times. Your nervous system has received many 
shocks. Your whole system is affected ; you have a 
cough but you have no seated disease of the lungs. 
Your stomach is the seat of all your trouble. You 
have taken poisons into your system." In response to 
these statements the gentleman said : "I have a pierc- 
ing pain under my left shoulder blade at this moment." 
He said that he had taken poison into his stomach as 
we had stated, and that every symptom that we had 
described was perfectly correct. We asked him if he 
was a Spiritualist? and if he was a stranger to us? 
He said he was not a Spiritualist, and had never seen 
us before. We gave tests and messages to seven dif- 
ferent persons at this meeting, and all were pronounced 
correct. 

This was our second meeting in this lovely little city, 
where we enjoyed the hospitable home of Judge and 
Mrs. Mock. Here we learned of the Rev. C. U. Wade, 
Presiding Elder of the Methodist Church, who had as- 
sumed the high and exalted ( ?) position of "Exposer 
of Spiritualism/' using the pulpits, so sacred to his re- 
ligion, to besmirch the religion of his neighbors ; and 
therein performing simple sleight-of-hand tricks in a 
childish endeavor to build up his own religious belief 
by tearing down that of his nearest and best neighbors. 



15.2 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Reader, is it not a pitiful spectacle to look upon? Does 
it not look as though the last resort had been reached 
when a Presiding Elder in a great church will resort 
to a method of cheap tricks to build up his fast declin- 
ing religion? The following clipped from "The Bluff- 
ton News" will explain itself: 

Enlightening Warren. 

"Next Monday night Rev. C. U. Wade will lecture 
at the Methodist Church in Warren on Spiritualism, 
which belief he will endeavor to expose by perform- 
ing" many of the strange and mysterious tricks incident 
to Spiritualism. Rev. Wade will charge an admission 
of five and ten cents, and the proceeds will be given 
toward the building of a church. The Warren Repub- 
lican states that Rev. Wade will have an audience that 
will fill the Methodist church." ("Great is Diana of 
Ephesus." Acts xix.) 

Spiritualism being the most popular subject in his 
part of the country, as thousands of the most intelli- 
gent people of the state were flocking to Chesterfield 
Camp-meeting daily each season to learn of its truth ; 
it looks like quite a good stroke of business for this 
Presiding Elder of a dying theology to connect the 
name Spiritualism with his performance, just to catch 
the nickels and dimes of the saints and sinners to be 
used in building more churches. I do not hold all 
members of the Methodist Church responsible for the 
acts of Rev. Wade, though he does fill a position of 
authority. I believe the enlightened and liberal class 
of Methodists have no sympathy with his pretended 
exposure of Spiritualism, and they are no more to 
blame for these unprincipled acts of his than the Spir- 
itualists are to blame for the acts of a fraudulent or 
pretended medium. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 153 

Tests at Petroleum Centre, Pa. 

On Monday, Dec. 31, 1894, to Mr. G. L., we said: 
"There is a spirit with you who calls you brother." 
(We described him). ''He tells us he has a wife and 
children in earth-life. He now shows us legal papers, 
and you have something to do with them. He says he 
comes to thank you for what you did for his wife and 
children ; that you were very kind to them and saved 
them from a great deal of trouble. Mr. L. replied: 
"No sir! I have no brother of that description." "But," 
said we, "He calls you brother. We make no mistake 
in this." "O yes," said he, "is it a brother in the 
lodge?" "Yes sir," we replied, "it is, and his name is 
Stevens if we hear it correctly." "Yes, sir," said he, 
much excited, "that is my brother in the lodge, but you 
have not given all of his name. It is Stevenson. This 
is remarkable." Mr. L. was an entire stranger to us. 
He told Mr. Neeley at the close of the meeting that 
this man Stevenson had willed his life insurance in 
full to his children, and he (Mr. L.) had been instru- 
mental in getting it for his widow, which she invested 
in a home for herself and family. This is evidence 
that our loved ones in the other life, can see, and do 
know what we are doing in this life. The world 
would be better if this fact was universally known. 
More evidence of "A Future Life Demonstrated." 

Meetings in Carnegie Hall, Allegheny, Pa. 

During the month of January, 1895, we held meet- 
ings in Carnegie Hall, Allegheny, Pa., on Sunday 
evenings. On the evening of Sunday, Jan. 6th, though 
it was very wet and rainy, nearly two hundred people 
were present. Our lecture was well received as the 
prolonged applause indicated. We followed with mes- 
sages, reading for eight persons. Everything we gave 
was recognized and verified with the exception of one 
name. I will record one reading which is a fair sam- 
ple of the work of the evening. 



154 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

We said: "We hear the name of Joseph Wynans." 
We then took upon us the condition which caused this 
man's transition, explaining it to the audience. A 
young man arose and said: "1 recognize that man. I 
knew him well. What you have said is true." Speak- 
ing to the young man who arose, we said : "We see 
you sitting at a desk ; there are books lying upon it ; 
you are a student ; this is your study room. You have 
had hard work to keep yourself in school, but every 
time when you thought you must give it up, something 
has come that helped you to continue. There is a man 
in earth-life who has helped you much. He has been 
your true friend, and will continue to assist you if 
you do right." "We see a spirit with you (describing 
her). She gives the name of Mary." "She is recog- 
nized, sir, and all you have told me is true," said he. 
Other spirits came to him and told him to avoid com- 
panions that were tempting him and trying- to lead 
him away from the conditions that would make for 
him a useful and happy life. We subsequently learned 
that this young man was a theological student in one 
of the schools of the city. 

A Prophecy Made and Fulfilled. 

While we were in Pittsburg, Pa., in January, 1896, 
we met our friend Mrs. Scott who told us of a test we 
gave her ; also a prophecy we made, and its fulfillment. 
She said that it was at a seance held at Dr. Bell's par- 
lors one year before ; that we described her Aunt Han- 
nah, and gave her name and relationship; that we also 
gave a vivid description of her old farm-home, the 
house, barn, orchard, veranda, well sweep, the sloping 
hills, creek, etc., and stated that she (Mrs. Scott) used 
to live there, all of which she said was correct. "But 
you told me," said she, "that inside of ten months there 
would be a great change in my life ; that I would 
move to another locality, and would be entirely out of 
the smoke and dirt of this city (Pittsburg). That T 
would be occupying new and clean quarters ; that T 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 155 

would feel happy and free and my life would be much 
pleasanter than in the past. You also said that this 
would all be brought about in an unexpected way, in 
a way that I did not dream of at that time." "Mr. 
Sprague," said she, "that was the most remarkable 
test of spirit prophecy that I ever knew anything about. 
I am now living in a house of my own. I hired it 

built. I bought a lot out at (some suburb of 

Pittsburg) and let the contract to have it built. The 
man was to have had it completed the first day of No- 
vember last, but the contractor went on a 'spree,' 
which delayed the work and I did not get into the 
house until Dec. 1st, which made the time eleven 
months instead of ten months as predicted." Now 
comes the fact that makes this a wonderful prophecy : 
Mrs. Scott said : "At the time the prophecy was made, I 
had no money with which to build a house. I knew 
of no money that would come to me. It was a won- 
derful test of spirit foresight and power." One such 
test as this establishes the fact that there are intelli- 
gences outside of the mortal sphere of man, and that 
such intelligent beings communicate to those on earth 
through mediums. No being on earth knew or could 
have known, that Airs. Scott would receive this money 
within ten months, and would go out of the smoky 
city and build a new house and move into it. Chris- 
tians believe in ancient prophecy. Spiritualists dem- 
onstrate the truth of modern prophecy. 

Convincing Messages and Tests at Erie, Pa. 

We held a seance in the parlors of Air. and Mrs. 
Clark Cole, of Erie, Pa., on the evening of Feb. 24, 
L895. After I had become entranced and was delin- 
eating character, giving tests, etc., Air. A. P. B., a 
prominent Methodist, came into the circle, received a 
reading and left before I returned to my normal state. 
I had never met him before. E. V. Wilson, speaking 
through me, said to him: "Sir, you left home at the 
age of sixteen years, and remained away until you 



156 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

were twenty years old. At an early age you joined 
the church. Von tried to be a good Christian and 
thought you were fairly successful. But of late you 
have been reading and thinking considerably and the 
teachings of the church fail to satisfy you. You are 
doubting." He replied: "The last statement is incor- 
rect, sir. 1 am a full believer in the Christian re- 
ligion." "But," said we, "we are prompted by a spirit 
friend of yours (describing him), and he says: "What 
has been said is true." He also says: "There are three 
points in your religion which you have failed to con- 
vince yourself are true, namely : 'Total Depravity,' 
'A Physical Resurrection,' and 'Eternal Punishment.' 
We will not ask you to reply to this last statement of 
the spirit unless you choose to do so voluntarily." He 
did not reply to it. We gave him many facts, related 
incidents, told of many experiences which had trans- 
pired in his life, and mentioned a financial failure 
through which he had passed, etc., all of which he vol- 
untarily pronounced correct. The members of our 
seance were pleased with this reading. The fact of 
his having failed financially and some of the other 
tests were facts with which they were acquainted. 
And some of his friends verified what we had said 
about his doubting his religion. The above was writ- 
ten in my diary just as it was told to me by Mr. and 
Mrs. Cole and other members of the seance. 

On Sunday, Feb. 3, 1895, we held two meetings in 
Wilcox Hall, Erie, Pa. At the evening meeting there 
were 250 people present. The subject discussed was: 
"The Civilizing Influence of Modern Spiritualism." 
We were in a deep trance while delivering the lecture, 
and our friends said it was grand. Our tests, which 
followed the lecture, were numerous and convincing, 
every one being given to strangers and skeptics. We 
gave a number of readings from hearing the voice of 
the subject without seeing him, turning our back to 
the audience while the subject arose and spoke a few 
words. We diagnosed the disease of one man, and he 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 157 

said he could not have done it better himself. We 
gave readings from handkerchiefs, gloves, etc. 

As we walked down the aisle a lady held up a hand- 
kerchief reaching it toward us, and we said: "Hold! 
Madam we do not want your handkerchief. There 
are five spirits with you. Your husband, father, his 
two daughters, and a son. We then described each 
of these spirits, and the lady said : "My father and hus- 
band are dead, and you have described them very well ; 
but I have no children dead." We did not say that 
they were your children, madam," said we. "We said 
your husband, father and his two daughters and a son. 
The two daughters and son are your father's children, 
your sisters and brother." "Well," said she, "that is 
right, I have two sisters and a brother dead, and you 
have described them correctly." "Yes, madam," said 
we, "and your aunt Eliza is also here and she brings 
you greetings from her summerland home. Madam, 
you are a stranger to us, are you not? and you rec- 
ognize the six spirits that we have described and given 
their relationship." She replied : "I recognize them 
all now, they are my own dear friends, and I never 
saw you before. Please allow me to thank you for 
what you have given me. It is grand." 

Following the above experience we gave several 
readings, all of which were verified, when our atten- 
tion was drawn to a lady, Mrs. A. H. F., of Buffalo, N. 
Y., a woman I had never seen before, who was hold- 
ing up a handkerchief in the back part of the hall. 
Many more near us were doing the same, but we 
pushed by them and got her article. At once there 
came over us an unpleasant feeling, and we said : 
"Madam you are surrounded by discordant influences. 
There is great inharmony in your life. You can take 
no comfort in such conditions," etc. The lady with 
eyes snapping, replied : "No, sir ! that is not true, my 
home is lovely." "Well," said we, "that is the influ- 
ence we get from this handkerchief; but take it, we 
will try to get no more if we are not right." She 



L58 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

took the handkerchief, and handing us another said: 
"O sir! take this one, please." "Does the one I just 
gave you belong to yon madam?" we asked. "No. 
sir," said she. We took the other one and hastened to 
the rostrum, and facing the audience, said: "Madam, 
there is a beautiful spirit daughter that comes to you. 
(We described her fully). She puts her arms around 
your neck and says: "Mamma, this is the way I passed 
away, just clinging to your neck. I was afraid to go, 
mamma, I wanted to stay with you darling mamma. 
But T am happy now that I have made you know that I 
live. I love you so much dear mamma and I am with 
you every day." This spirit continued her message to 
some length, and when she concluded, we said : 
"Madam, this, your daughter, passed away with throat 
trouble, diphtheria I think, judging from the influ- 
ence she brings. Is this true?" (Lady weeping). 
"Yes, she died of diphtheria, and every thing you have 
told me is true. It is my darling child and I am so 
thankful for this message from her." "Madam," said 
we, "that this test may be more convincing to others, 
will you kindly tell the audience if you are acquainted 
with us." "I will gladly do so. I am a stranger to 
you. I never saw you before. I am a stranger in this 
city. I live in Buffalo, N. Y." 

We then dismissed the audience, and many came 
forward to congratulate us on the success of the meet- 
ing. And this lady came to me and taking my hand 
while weeping, said: "I want to thank you sir, for 
what you have done for me tonight. O sir ! I thank 
you so much, for now I know that it is well with my 
child and T shall surely meet her when my time comes 
to go." She then gave me her name, and shaking my 
hand, said : "God bless you sir. This is the happiest 
hour 1 have seen since my darling left me." 

The lady went away, but in a few minutes she re- 
turned and said: "Please excuse me sir, I must shake 
your hand and say good-bye once more before I go, 
for T may never see you again." She shook my hand 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 159 

again and turned away weeping. I have never seen 
the dear woman since, but I know we shall meet some- 
time. This is a demonstration of one way in which 
Spiritualism is blessing mankind. Experiences like 
this one constitute the real compensation that a me- 
dium receives ; and one such should compensate for 
all the scoffs, misrepresentations, false accusations, 
and unjust criticisms. The angels are the true me- 
dium's friends. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Airs. Sprague's First Camp-meeting Lecture, and 
Platform Tests — A Prophecy and Its Fulfillment 
— Our First Visit to Chesterfield Camp-meeting — 
Meeting at Tidioute, Pa. — Dr. Acomb Looses 
Fifty Thousand Dollars. Spirit Right, Dr. 
Wrong — Tests at Sugar Grove — Lottoville Meet- 
ing and Seance — Spiritualist and Methodist Dis- 
cuss Spiritualism and The Bible. 

Mrs. Sprague's First Camp-Meeting Lecture. 

In a former chapter we related what E. V. Wilson 
prophesied regarding our future work. The reader 
will remember that he said they — the spirits — would 
develop me and I should go over the whole land teach- 
ing and preaching Spiritualism and demonstrating its 
truth ; and when Mrs. Sprague asked what would be- 
come of her, he said they would heal her physically, 
making her well and strong and would develop her 
mediumship so that she should heal the sick, give pri- 
vate readings, and give public lectures and platform 
tests. The reader will also remember that when Mrs. 
Sprague asked how long it would be before she would 
be able to lecture and give messages from the platform, 



160 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

friend Wilson said: "Inside of ten years lady." All 
of this had been fulfilled, though she had never before 
been advertised to give a lecture. It was nearly ten 
years before she began speaking in public and giving 
tests from the platform. 

July 21 to 25, 1894, we served the Maple Dell 
Camp-meeting Association at Mantua, Ohio. We 
supposed that I was to lecture and give platform tests 
and messages, which I did, and that Mrs. Sprague was 
to give private readings and seances. But when we 
received the programs we were surprised to learn that 
Mrs. Sprague's name was on the list of speakers for 
two lectures and she was to follow them with plat- 
form tests. She would hardly have consented to this 
if she had been consulted, but through my encourage- 
ment and the earnest request of the spirit friends, and 
their promise to sustain her, she was peusuaded to fill 
the place as best she could. She took for her subject, 
"The Fallen Woman," reading a poem with that title. 
Her efifort was well received as the applause of the au- 
dience attested. Her message work was excellent, and 
at the close of the meeting she received many congrat- 
ulations. My diary records it as "A very fine meet- 
ing/' 

Since that day Mrs. Sprague has been speaking and 
giving messages and tests from the rostrum side by 
side with me. . She has in this way, and in her private 
sittings, in circles, and in healing the sick, converted 
many people to the truths of Modern Spiritualism. 

The reader may appreciate the great test in this 
prophecy better when I say neither of us had ever 
spoken in public, much less given a platform test or 
private reading at the time this prophecy was made. 
We were not capable, and wc had no more idea of do- 
ing so than we had of visiting the moon. I trust this 
may serve as a help and encouragement to mediums 
who are developing, that they may have patience, per- 
severance and confidence to carry them forward to a 
successive unfoldment. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 161 

Our First Visit to Chesterfield Camp-Meeting. 

Sunday, July 29, 1904, at the Chesterfield, Indiana, 
Spiritualists Camp-meeting", Mrs. Amelia Colby-Luther 
occupied the platform in the morning giving one of 
her masterly discourses. 

Mr. J. Clegg Wright was the speaker of the after- 
noon and gave one of his splendid lectures. His 
meeting closed at 3 :45 and at 5 o'clock we made our 
"debut'' appearing before a Chesterfield audience for 
the first time. 

After the meeting was opened, I was controlled by 
E. V. Wilson and gave a large number of messages 
and tests, among which were the following : To a 
lady (Mrs. R.) who arose and asked for a reading, we 
said: "Madam, you are not well. You have much 
pain in your side and back, which affects your spine 
and the cords and muscles of the neck. You have 
much pain at the base of the brain, a dull pain over 
the eyes, etc. We were quite particular in describing 
in detail the symptoms of her disease, and when we 
closed the lady said : "The diagnosis is correct in 
every particular." 

To a gentleman (Mr. B.) w r e said: "Your mother is 
with you. She brings a little boy with her, and she 
tells me that you have a little girl in your home who 
is a medium. She says : "Be careful not to break 
the circle when she is personating. You did that once 
and it hurt her very much." The gentleman verified 
our statements. 

We then said : "If there is a skeptic present who 
wants a reading, we would be pleased to have him rise 
in his seat, and we will read for him." 

A half dozen men arose at once. We asked them to 
be seated and tried again ; this time with better suc- 
cess. A gentleman, (Mr. H. C), arose and we said: 
"Sir, your brother is with you and — " "I have no dead 
brother sir," said he interrupting us. "But," said we, 
"this spirit calls you brother;" (we then described the 
spirit). "I have no brother dead," said he. "Never 



162 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

mind, sir," said we, Your spirit brother tells mc that 
in the year 1872 yon were financially embarrassed, and 
that he came to your assistance and tided you over the 
trouble; that if it had not been for his timely assist- 
ance you would have been financially ruined." "It's 
all wrong," said he, "it's all wrong, sir." 

"It is not all wrong, sir," said we. "This spirit says 
it is true." We then gave a more minute description 
of the spirit and left the matter. When the meeting- 
closed several persons came to me and said that the 
test was correct ; that the spirit whom we described 
perfectly was the brother-in-law of Mr. H. C. ; that in 
1872 as we had said Mr. H. C. had come near failing 
financially, and that this brother-in-law (not brother 
as we had stated) then in the mortal form, had fur- 
nished the means to tide him over the difficulty, other- 
wise, he would have been ruined financially ; that this 
fact was well known in the community and that they 
were personally acquainted with the affair. 

This man came to me at the close of the meeting and 
said : "I am no Methodist, Presbyterian, Spiritualist, 
nor anything else. I never had a brother die. I have 
three living brothers. I never failed in business, and 
you are all wrong." We replied : "We did not say 
that you had failed. We said your brother saved you 
from failure." But we did not care to discuss the 
matter ; we believed his spirit-friends told the truth 
and we would let the matter rest there. But some of 
his neighbors were not so kind, and faced him with 
the statement that the only mistake we had made was 
in calling the spirit his brother when it was his brother- 
in-law. The spirit came calling him brother at the 
first, and this was why I said that he was his brother. 
This was not such a terrible mistake as to cause an 
honest investigator to discard the grand fact that his 
"dead" brother-in-law had returned from beyond the 
grave and stated truths that had identified him and 
who had been described by us so perfectly that his old 
neighbors could not help recognizing him. Some wil- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 163 

ful skeptics are impervious to truth, but they cannot 
hinder the onward march of this grand movement. 

We gave many fine tests at this meeting and re- 
ceived congratulations on every hand. Old Spiritual- 
ists greeted us enthusiastically, several saying that they 
were personally acquainted with E. V. Wilson and 
that he was certainly with us that day. Among the 
number who congratulated us was Mrs. O. K. Smith, 
a fine inspirational singer who once traveled with Mr. 
Wilson on his lecture tours through the south. She 
was free in her praise of him and his good work and 
congratulated me on my success and good fortune in 
having him for a helper and teacher. 

Tuesday, July 31st, at two o'clock, p. m., we gave a 
lecture based upon subjects and questions presented by 
members of the audience which was well received. 
Following this Mr. Wilson again controlled me ; going 
to the back of the platform and taking Mrs. Amelia 
Colby-Luther by the hand, he said: "Sister Luther, 
I greet you from my summer land home. I am happy 
to clasp hands with you from across the border land. 
I am still with you in the good work, as I was before 
leaving the mortal form. O, how my memory carries 
me back to the days when we traversed the country up 
and down. What enjoyment it was to battle old the- 
ology. Together dear sister we labored and fought 
for the right. Long years we fought side by side win- 
ning many a victory. We met many opponents in our 
just warfare and have driven many a theological buz- 
zard from his dismal roost." "Sister, I bring you 
greetings and blessings today. Go on joyfully to the 
end. I am still with you." He then shook the hand 
of Mrs. O. K. Smith, the inspirational singer who 
used to travel with him and Mrs. Luther, said a few 
words of greeting, and then turned to the audience 
and began giving tests and messages. 

First to Mr. E. R. S., of Waterloo, Ind., he said: 
"I see behind you a gentleman with a drawn sword, 
clothed in a soldier's uniform and holding a horse by 



1(U \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

the bit. The horse is dapple gray; the soldier was a 
cavalryman and an officer in the Union army of the 
war of the Rebellion." "I do not recognize him," said 
Mr. S., and we continued by saying: "He was in 
Hooker's command, and you will be able to recognize 
him before you leave these grounds." After the meet- 
ing closed Mr. S. came to me and said that he could 
verify the test; that he could not think at the time it 
was given who it could be, but that he recognized the 
spirit and we had described him perfectly. 

After giving readings to eight other persons we 
asked if there was a person in the audience who was 
not well and would like to have us diagnose his dis- 
ease clairvoyantly, if so to rise and we would do so. 
Upon two ladies arising we selected one of them, giv- 
ing a detailed description of her ailments, and closed 
by saying: "You have bronchial trouble, but you have 
no seated disease. Your spirit friends are very anx- 
ious to have you cease working so hard as your me- 
diumship and hard work are too much for your health. 
You are sleeping with an old person who absorbs your 
life forces. It would be much better for your health 
if you would sleep alone. In doing so you would re- 
tain your strength." This test was verified and freely 
acknowledged, as all of the others had been, and we 
sat down mid great applause. 

Mrs. Colby Luther arose and said: ''I recognize 
our dear friend and brother E. V. Wilson. He uses 
this medium very well indeed. I should have recog- 
nized him by his voice, or by his actions and gestures. 
It is a remarkable personation. I am glad to recog- 
nize him, and am greatly pleased to receive his en- 
couraging message." 

Mrs. O. K. Smith said to me: "It is E. V. right 
over. Surely you are blessed for you have him with 
you. Yes you surely have him with you." Many 
others congratulated us in like manner, and we were 
grateful for their words of appreciation and encour- 
agement. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 165 

I felt better after this meeting, for I had some mis- 
givings at first when I thought of going on the ros- 
trum to work beside such old veteran workers as J. 
Klegg Wright and Mrs. Colby-Luther. Since that 
day we have labored beside most of the great and good 
workers of this country, with no inharmony and free 
from misgivings. I have perfect confidence in the 
dear ones who led me to the restrum, and who have 
sustained me so faithfully through all the years of out- 
work for humanity. 

Meeting at Tidioute, Pa. — Doctor Loses Fifty 

Thousand Dollars — Spirit Right, Doctor 

Wrong. 

We were called to Tidioute, Pa., a small town of 
1,500 inhabitants, where we held a meeting on the 
evening of March 23, 1894. Previously we mailed our 
friends some posters to use in advertising the meeting. 
No Spiritualist meeting had ever been held in that 
town, and some of its people were greatly prejudiced 
against it. They seemed to think it was their duty to 
prevent our holding it. When the notices of the meet- 
ing had been posted around the town, it was discov- 
ered that about all of them had been torn down. Then 
another lot was put up ; this time paste was used to 
hold them fast. Many of these our orthodox friends 
( ?) defaced so that they could not be read at all. This 
good Christian ( ?) spirit did not subside even after 
the posters were destroyed, as a story was industriously 
circulated that the admission to be charged at our 
meeting would be one dollar. This caused consider- 
able annoyance to the four Spiritualists of the village, 
and Justice Waltz, Mr. W. E. Mcintosh and Mr. J. A. 
Stillman were besieged by people who wanted to know 
regarding the truth of the stories that had been circu- 
lated. When the people had been informed that this 
statement was false, our religious friends ( ?) contin- 
ued the warfare waged against us by circulating the 
story that the meeting had been postponed for one 



16G A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

week. The town being- small, it took but a little time 
to circulate a falsehood, or to refute it. Justice 
Waltz's office was again besieged. Mr. Waltz was a 
Spiritualist and the only one of the four that could be 
easily reached. When the people learned that the 
meeting would be held as advertised, these "saved" 
people invented one more falsehood and circulated it 
over the town. They said we had missed our train ; 
had got left and there would be no meeting that night. 
This story was current when we arrived. 

It would not be just to lay this contemptible work to 
the large body of Christians at Tidioute, for it was un- 
doubtedly the work of but a few ignorant and fanatical 
ones such as attach themselves to every good cause, 
to its detriment. It is unfortunate that every relig- 
ious sect or denomination must be judged by its ignor- 
ant, fanatical and fraudulent adherents, but such is 
usually the case. Spiritualists are often judged by 
the acts of montebanks, fakirs, frauds and villains 
who, self-appointed, masquerade as exponents of Spir- 
itualism. Therefore it is but fair to say that the un- 
principled persons who circulated these falsehoods in 
Tidioute, were not representatives of the good Chris- 
tians of that village. They belong to that same class 
that have always proved a curse to Spiritualism. 

We held our meeting in Tidioute as advertised. 
There were but twelve people in the hall when the 
hour for its opening arrived, but soon after they began 
to arrive, and though a fifteen-cent admission was 
charged to defray the expenses of the meeting, one 
hundred and seventy-five people gathered, including a 
Methodist minister who was holding revival meetings 
every evening, but who closed his meeting for lack of 
an audience and came to listen to our discourse upon 
the subject: "What is Modern Spiritualism.'' I am 
sure we did him, and the rest of the congregation 
some good, for we showed that Spiritualism teaches 
"Eternal Progression" instead of "Eternal Punish- 
ment," the Infinite Principle of Love, instead of a God 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 1()7 

who "is angry with the wicked every day." Cause and 
Effect in place of "Miracles," and knowledge of the 
future life, instead of "Belief" in it. 

Our lecture was listened to attentively and the in- 
terest increased when we began proving our claims. 
Our tests were numerous and pointed. I will record 
but one of them here. We invited any skeptic who 
wanted a reading to come forward and take the chair 
by us and said we would see what we could get for 
him. No one volunteered to come. After a pause 
some one called for Dr. Acomb. No one responded 
until the name was called several times, when he came 
and took the chair. On our asking if he was a skeptic, 
he said : "I certainly am not a Spiritualist." We then 
read his character, related a number of incidents in 
his life, described his mother, giving the date of her 
death, etc. We said further that he had led a very 
active life, that he had been interested in large ven- 
tures, and at one time was very successful. "I see 
you when your financial atmosphere is greatly dis- 
turbed. You have business interests in different local- 
ities. You are operating in different large cities. You 
have agents doing business for you at the time and 
seven years ago the eleventh day of last August you 
lost a fortune in one day." When asked to vertify our 
statements the doctor said : "I can say, a part of it is 
correct." 

After the meeting the doctor told me that he thought 
I was mistaken in the date of his loss, but that the rest 
of the reading was mainly correct. The next morning 
as T was passing Dr. Acomb's drug store, he stood at 
the door and asked me to come in while we settled the 
question regarding the date of his financial loss. He 
took some old ledgers and day books from the top of 
his desk, and on investigation found that I was correct 
in my statement ; that his loss occurred the day and 
year that I had given. He told me that at that time 
he was carrying on a large business, that through his 
agents he had invested heavily in oil, and that on that 



168 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

very day as his hooks showed he had lost fifty thous- 
and dollars. This doctor's spirit mother had made her 
presence known. She had told him a truth, and had 
given it under such circumstances and in such a re- 
markable way that he was forced to accept it as an evi- 
dence of a continued life after the dissolution of the 
body. And thus is "A Future Life Demonstrated." 

We answer Questions and Give Tests at Sugar 
Grove, Pa. 

At Sugar Grove, Pa., March 9th, 1894, after an- 
swering twenty-seven questions which were handed in 
by the members of our audience, we gave many read- 
ings. Under the control of Mr. Wilson we said to a 
Mr. R. : "There stands behind you a lady. She has 
dark hair and eyes, is under medium height, has oval 
face, a clear complexion, etc. She gives me the name 
of Mary and speaks the word mother." "Is your 
mother in the spirit world? Is her name Mary? and 
have I described her? Answer. "I must say that 
neither statement is correct. My mother is living, her 
name is not Mary, and you have not described her." 
We then said : "This lady stands right behind you and 
in front of the gentleman (Mr. W.) sitting just behind 
you." To him we said : "Do you recognize this lady 
as your mother?" Mr. W. replied: "You have de- 
scribed my mother perfectly; her name was Mary and 
she is dead." 

We then invited anyone who desired a reading, to 
come forward and be seated in the chair in front of 
us. No one moved. We then asked the audience to 
select some one to come and have a reading. A name 
was called out and a man came and took the chair. 
We said : "Sir, you are not looked upon with favor 
in the community where you live. You are a strangely 
organized individual. The people know but little of 
what is passing through your mind. Perhaps it is well 
that they do not read your thoughts." Suddenly he 
sprang from the chair; whether angry or frightened 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 169 

we could not tell. His features wore a strange look 
as he seated himself at one side of the hall and watched 
us attentively. We were told that our reading was 
correct as far as it went, and that the man was un- 
doubtedly frightened for fear that we would tell some- 
thing that he would not wish to have told. If such 
was the case his fears were not well founded, for our 
spirit friends have ever sought to lift mortals to a 
higher plane of living and a better life, by appealing to 
the good in them rather than exposing their weaknesses 
or errors. We believe that if the man had remained 
until we were through the reading, he would have re- 
ceived encouragement and advice that would have been 
good for him to hear. 

Lottsville Meeting and Seance. 

On March 20th, 1894, we were advertised to lec- 
ture in the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Lottsville, 
Pa. At 7 o'clock, the hour set for the meeting, there 
was not a person in the church. At 7 :30 less than a 
dozen had arrived. The outlook was not encouraging 
to the friends of our cause. The owners of the church 
through courtesy to Mrs. Harriet D. Smith and her 
husband, recently deceased, good Spiritualists who 
had by a liberal contribution, made it possible for 
them to build this church, allowed us to hold a Spirit- 
ualist meeting in it. But to counteract its "awful" 
influence these good Wesleyan Methodists held a rous- 
ing prayer meeting a few doors below the church 
where they kept up a lively and loud praying match 
until after the close of our meeting. 

Soon after 7 :30 that evening, the people of the town 
began to come in, and continued to come, until there 
were seventy people present. This was a large audi- 
ence for this little village. Many came from a dis- 
tance. 

Our subject was "Modern Spiritualism vs. Modern 
Christianity." We quoted liberally from the Bible 
both to prove that modern Spiritualism is true, and to 



L70 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

prove that modern Christianity is not true from that 
standpoint of the Christian. The lecture was well re- 
ceived and several times we were heartily applauded. 
At its close we gave reading's to five people. All of 
our statements were verified excepting- one name that 
we gave. I will record one reading here. To Dr. F. 
M. we said: "There is a name written above your 
head. It is Charles." He said he did not recall any 
spirit friend of that name, and we passed on to others. 
After giving several readings we turned our back to 
the audience inviting anyone wishing to do so, to rise 
and speak a few words and resume his seat. Dr. M.' 
arose. He was a stranger to us, and we did not know 
who had risen. We said : "Sir, seventeen years ago 
was a marked period in your young life. You were 
aspiring and laboring to accomplish a given purpose. 
You had a well defined object in view. You had a 
hard struggle, but after a period of struggle and delay 
you accomplished your desire. That which you ac- 
complished at that time has been of great benefit to 
you, as it has to many others. That struggle brought 
you into your life work." 

We then said : "There is a spirit with you who 
was a professional man in this life." We then de- 
scribed him thoroughly and said : "He gives us the 
name of Charles. He is the same spirit whose name 
we gave at the opening of this seance. He was your 
true friend — a sort of godfather to you. Do you rec- 
ognize him? "I do, sir," said he; "it is my old friend 

who helped me when I was struggling to get 

my education. I studied medicine with him. I had 
lost my property and could not have gone on with my 
studies if it had not been for his help. His first name 
was Charles as you have stated. We then described 
the characteristics of this spirit gentleman, giving 
many of his peculiarities, etc., all of which Dr. M. 
pronounced correct. This test created a great deal of 
interest with Dr. AT. and his friends. Many other tests 
were given, and our meeting was a grand success. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 171 

The next evening we held a large seance at Mrs. 
Smith's home. It was also a success. A few of the 
Wesleyan Methodists were present and witnessed the 
actual demonstration of the possibility of the truth of 
the statement that ''The spirits of the prophets are 
subject to the prophets," and "There are divers gifts 
but the same spirit.'' 

Spiritualist and Methodist Discuss Spiritualism. 

One day in the month of August, 1894, while we 
were holding meetings in Dowagiac, Mich., we met 

Air. , on the street. We had met him once 

some years before. After the courtesies of the day 
the following conversation occurred : 

Methodist — ''Are you in the jewelry busines now, 
Mr. Sprague?" 

Spiritualist — "No, sir, I am preaching now." 

M. — ' r Are you a minister?" 

S. — "Yes sir, preaching and teaching the true gos- 
pel is my only occupation/' 

M. — (Apparently much pleased) "What denomina- 
tion do you belong to Mr. Sprague?'' 

S. — "I am a Spiritualist minister." 

M. — "Oh! — ah! — ahem! A Spiritualist minister? 
Do you believe in Spiritualism?" 

S. — "I certainly do sir. If I did not I would not 
be preaching it. Come up to the Universalist Church 
this evening and hear us preach on this all-important 
subject." 

M. — (With a sickly smile of incredulity and an ex- 
pression of pity) — "I don't believe in Spiritualism. 
Dead people never come back after they leave this 
world. How can you be so credulous ?" 

S. — "Are you not a Christian? Mr. — ." 

M. — "Yes, sir, I am a Methodist." 

S. — "Then you believe the Bible do you not?" 

M. — "I certainly do believe it is God's true word, 
and that is the reason why I am not a Spiritualist. 
Spiritualism is from the devil as the Holy Scriptures 



1 l'\? A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

leach us. Only evil spirits come back and they come 
to lead us astray and cause us to loose our souls." 

S. — "Kindly allow me to quote from your bible to 
prove to you that good spirits also return and com- 
municate." 

M. — "But you cannot do it. The bible opposes Spir- 
itualism. It condemns it sir." 

S. — "Please listen and we will see. 'And the spirits 
of the prophets are subject to the prophets.' That is 
New Testament scripture." 

M. — "Well that teaches that those who were proph- 
ets can return to those who are prophets. I believe 
in the 'communion of saints.' " 

S. — "So do I, and of sinners, too. One law governs 
all. But you just said that only evil spirits return, 
and now you say you believe that the saints and proph- 
ets return and communicate. How can you harmon- 
ize such contradictory statements?" 

M. — "Easy enough, sir. God allows the spirits of 
the prophets and saints to communicate with the 
prophets and saints of this world, and sends evil spirits 
and delusions to the wicked." 

S. — "Then you do acknowledge that good and evil 
spirits can communicate with mortals?" 

M. — "Yes, whenever God decrees it, good spirits 
come to the prophets of God and evil spirits are sent 
to evil doers." 

S. — "Well sir, now that you have acknowledged the 
truth of spirit communion, you are in a fair way to 
become a Spiritualist. Come out to our meeting to- 
night and perhaps you may learn how to discriminate 
between the good and the evil spirits." 

M. — "No sir, I will not attend your meeting; I have 
no faith in Spiritualism ; I don't believe in your spirits 
at all." 

S. — "But your religion teaches that your Bible is an 
infallible guide; why do you not follow its teach- 
ings?" 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 173 

M. — "I do try to follow its teachings. It is and 
shall ever be my safe and unerring guide in life." 

S. — "But, since you take the bible for your guide 
you should be guided by its teachings. It says : 'Add 
to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge.' You 
have faith in a future life ; now sir, come up to our 
meeting and see if you may not add the knowledge of 
a future life to the faith you now possess." (See 2nd 
Peter I, 5.) 

M. — "I .tell you I will not attend your meetings sir, 
and that is settled. I will have nothing to do with 
your spirits." 

S. — "Then sir, you positively refuse to obey the 
commands of your 'infallible' bible, for it gives you 
this command, 'Beloved believe not every spirit, but 
try the spirits whether they are of God, because many 
false prophets have gone out into the world.' (1st 
John IV, 1.) It is plainly evident that you have not 
obeyed the command of your bible, as you have not 
'tried the spirits' ; and that you are determined not to 
obey, as you refuse to try them and declare that you 
will have nothing to do with them. Let me inform 
you that there is no way to fulfill this Bible command 
except by investigating Spiritualism. Even if you 
were to hold a seance in your Methodist church and 
the spirit of John Wesley should communicate with 
you, then that w r ould be Spiritualism. There is no 
way to try the spirits without coming to Spiritualism, 
so you may content yourself with the fact that to ful- 
fill the scripture, you Christians will be obliged to 
come to Spiritualism." All of the people of the world 
must do the same. Spirit communion is a part of 
Spiritualism." We then separated — I to meditate 
upon the bigotry and prejudice of men, and he, per- 
haps, to cogitate upon why God allows the devil's 
work in Spiritualism to continue. "Neither will they 
The) be persuaded though one rose from the dead." 
(Luke xvi-31.) 



I i I A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Our meetings in Dowagiac were a decided success. 
We got along quite well without this good Methodist 
brother, though we would have been pleased if he had 
been present to witness some of the phenomena of 
which he had been reading in his Bible for years. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Cause of Disease Discovered by Clairvoyance and Pa- 
tient Cured — A Double Test at Allegheny, Pa. — 
Meetings and Seances in Erie, Pa. — "It Is All 
Done by Phrenology." — More Good Work in Erie 
— Eagle Lake, Mich., Grove Meeting — Many 
Proofs of a Future Life. 

Clairvoyance Discovers Cause of Disease. 

On Thursday, Sept. 24th, 1894, while we were in 
Indianapolis, Ind., a stranger, Mr. Frank McAllister, 
a young man, called and asked to see Mrs. Sprague. I 
told him she was giving a reading but would soon be 
at liberty to see him. When she was ready we en- 
tered the room, and she was soon under control of her 
Indian girl "Mendota," who began by describing the 
symptoms of the young man's trouble. Suddenly she 
exclaimed: "Oh Chief! you got big snake! Me see it! 
Snake make you sick chief ! Me get snake. You do 
what me tell you chief, we get snake quick." "You 
know you got snake chief?" she asked. "Yes, indeed 
I do !" said he. "You are right ! I have a tape worm. 
I succeeded at one time in getting forty-seven feet 
of it, but did not get its head and I have suffered 
greatly with it. I came here today to see if you would 
discover it, and could tell me what to do to get rid of 
it." Mendota gave him a prescription and instruc- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 175 

tions what to do, and told him to return the next Sun- 
day morning at nine o'clock. 

On Sunday morning he returned before the hour of 
his appointment. He excused himself for coming so 
early, by saying that he could not wait to tell us the 
good news. "I am rid of the snake. I got the head 
and all this morning. It measured thirty-four feet 
and ten inches. I am sure I am rid of it now. I feel 
like a new man. I felt so light and happy that I could 
not wait until nine o'clock to come and tell you." He 
could not find language to express his great gratitude 
to Airs. Sprague and "Mendota." 

That very evening he received a letter from his wife, 
who was at his home in Kansas, saying that she had 
just visited a medium there, and the spirits told her 
that he would soon get rid of the tape worm ; that they 
would help him to do so. This experience is another 
link in the chain of evidence I am giving to prove the 
existence of spirits and their ability to reach us. 

"I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 
that thou hast hid these things from the wise and pru- 
dent, and hast revealed them unto babes." (Jesus. 
See Luke x, 21.) 

Double Test at Allegheny, Pa. 

On Tuesday, Jan. 8, 1895, Mrs. Sprague held a 
seance in Dr. Bell's parlors in Allegheny, Pa. There 
were twenty-five people present, every one of whom 
excepting the mediums received messages and tests, 
some of which were very remarkable. I will record 
one which is a double test. 

While Mrs. Sprague was giving messages to the sit- 
ters on the opposite side of the circle from that on 
which I was sitting, I saw a little spirit boy climb into 
the lap of the lady beside me. I told her what I saw 
in a whisper, and that the little fellow called her 
''Mamma," and said his name was "Willie." The lady 
in a low whisper said: "That is my darling's name." 



176 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

1 then told her what the little hoy said, and she re- 
ceived it with eyes brimming with tears. 

Later, as the seance progressed, Mrs. Sprague, 
under the control of "Mendota " turned to a gentle- 
man sitting opposite me and told him of a little spirit 
hoy that came to him calling him "Papa" and said his 
name is "Willie." She then delivered a sweet and 
comforting message from the little spirit hoy and turn- 
ing around and coming over to our side of the circle, 
took the hand of the lady beside me and said : "Willie 
says this is his Mamma." She then proceeded to give a 
message for this spirit child to his mamma. 

This was a beautiful and touching test, being 
perfectly understood and verified. The joy of these 
bereaved parents on receiving this message from their 
dear child was apparent, and the sympathy of the 
circle was plain to be seen in the moistened eyes and 
the tender expressions of countenance of its members. 

Experiences such as these are of almost daily 
occurrence with us, and in this we are indeed favored 
with the knowledge of their truth and reality. This 
was a double test, as I had given it to the lady while 
Mrs. Sprague's back was turned to us and she, giving 
tests to others, did not hear my whispers or know that 
I had given the lady anything at all. And she had 
connected the gentleman and lady as ''Willie" had 
shown her that they were his parents. Neither of us 
knew that they were husband and wife until the spirit 
revealed it through Mrs. Sprague. 

These people introduced themselves at the close of 
the seance and thanked us with deep feelings of grati- 
tude for the messages. Their names were Ryan. It 
is often said that Spiritualism is beautiful if it is true. 
The most beautiful thing about it is that it is abso- 
lutely true, and that such occurrences as the one 
recorded above are every day experiences among 
mediums and investigators. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 177 

Meetings and Seances in Erie, Pa. 

At Erie, Pa., April 1st, 1895, we gave a reading- to 
Mr. G. H. His spirit friends controlled me and talked 
to him telling of his great trials and troubles, and that 
he had contemplated suicide. They begged him not to 
allow himself to think of such a thing for a moment, 
and explained the terrible condition in which it places 
one after reaching spirit life. While tears were 
flowing from the medium's eyes as well as from his 
own he promised his spirit friends that he would never 
allow himself to contemplate it again. 

This gentleman had never consulted a medium nor 
ever attended a Spiritualist meeting until the evening 
before. On leaving me he said he could not find words 
to express his thankfulness for the reading we had 
given him ; that it was all true and that he knew I 
could not have known of the things I had told him. 
Said he : "I am satisfied that Spiritualism must be 
true." 

On April 7th, at 2 :30 o'clock p. m., we delivered a 
lecture in Jerecki Hall, State street. We had a fine 
audience and the subject was: "Spirit and Matter — 
Their Relations." I was conscious through nearly all 
the lecture. Though I had a fine inspiration, it was 
becoming evident that I was outgrowing the trance 
condition, and becoming more conscious while under 
control. 

Then came our seance. To a lady, Mrs. E., to 
whom a spirit directed us, we said : "There is a spirit 
comes to you. It is your daughter. She says : "Mamma 
T passed away when a little babe. I was but a little 
bud. I have now grown to womanhood." She holds 
in her hand a large bunch of violets and presents them 
to you as a symbol. She says you will understand. 
This spirit then gave a short description of her spirit 
home and a message of love to her mother. The lady 
said she had lost a babe by death many years before. 

To a gentleman, Mr. X., we gave something on 



178 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED; 

matters pertaining to his business, naming the date on 
which he came near a financial failure and telling' of 
two people who came to the rescue and saved him. 
We said that he had been tempted, and if he had been 
dishonest he might have been wealthy. We gave the 
date that he was tempted and said the temptation 
was great but his better judgment had prevailed, he 
resisted and was saved. After giving him many other 
dates and incidents, we said : "Your mother who is a 
spirit tells us what we have told you. She has been 
many years in spirit life, but has been your guardian 
spirit always. She is very proud of you and is thank- 
ful that you resisted that great temptation." 

"Now sir, we are in your hands. Kindly tell the 
audience whether your mother is in spirit life and if 
we have told the truth." The gentleman said: "It is 
all true, and I never saw you before." 

At the close of the meeting he came forward and 
thanked me feelingly, his large blue eyes filled with 
tears, his voice became husky, he pressed my hand 
and struggling with his emotions walked away. I will 
write no more of the strong tests and lovely messages 
given at this seance, but they were numerous and 
every one was verified by those receiving them. This 
seance furnished ample proof of the presence of the 
spirit friends and that they are conscious of our acts 
and are grieved or pleased at what we do. Their 
love for us and their interest in us continues beyond 
the grave. 

At 7 :30 in the evening we held another meeting in 
this hall. There were two hundred people present. 
After the lecture we spent an hour in giving tests of 
spirit presence and messages. All were good. T 
will record one of them here. We asked that any 
stranger come to the rostrum and take the chair while 
we give him a reading. A gentleman, Mr. T. L., did 
so and we said: "Sir, you have been a hard working 
man all of your life, earning your bread by manual 
labor. You have not accumulated money. You were 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. t'79 

a soldier in the war of the Rebellion. We see you in 
the midst of battle, the bullets are flying around you 
like hailstones ; you are wounded ; and now we see you 
in a prison pen. You were a prisoner of war in that 
horrible place. You were often close to death during 
the war. When the war was declared you were young. 
Your home was not a pleasant one, and you stole away 
and enlisted without the knowledge of your people. 
Following this we read his character making several 
positive statements and in response to our request he 
said that he had never seen me until I came upon the 
platform that night ; that everything I had told him 
was true ; that he had always worked hard for his liv- 
ing ; that he ran away from home and became a sold- 
ier ; that his home was not a home to him, and that 
he was wounded in battle and was taken prisoner, thus 
verifying everything we had told him. 

All of the other readings were also recognized, and 
they were all given to strangers, as the president, Mr. 
Clark M. Cole, at the beginning of the seance re- 
quested that only strangers and skeptics rise for read- 
ings. 

At the close of this hard day's work we were very 
much exhausted and on our arrival at the home of 
Mr. and Mrs. Cole where we were domiciled, Mr. Cole 
gave me a fine magnetic treatment ; I drank a glass of 
hot lemonade and retired to rest. 

It Is All Done by Phrenology. 

At Erie. Pa., May 5, 1895, after the lecture we 
gave readings to eight persons. The first one was pro- 
nounced a failure. The second one, we were told, was 
incorrect, due undoubtedly to our getting enrapport 
with others instead of these subjects. These fail- 
ures pleased the skeptics and they indulged in a 
quiet laugh which we encouraged by saying: "Laugh 
and enjoy yourselves while you may. It is the skep- 
tics' turn to laugh. You so seldom get the chance to 



"ISO A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

make sport of our failures that you should improve 
this opportunity. But wait for the sequel." 

Our next subject was a pronounced success; the 
fourth one was correct in every particular, as were all 
but one of the readings that followed. 

We gave a reading to a young man, describing two 
spirits, giving incidents and dates in his life-history, 
and several pointed tests, all of which, he said, were 
true ; "but," he added, "it is easy to see how it is done. 
It is all done by phrenology." This was said with a 
sneer and in a tone of derision. We then said: "You 
are very quick tempered, quite arbitrary and exacting. 
You want all to do with you as they agree to do. If 
a man makes an appointment with you and fails to fill 
it, you get angry and are not easily satisfied." The 
young man became excited at once ; he was angry, as 
every symptom showed, and he said : "You are all 
wrong. You have made many mistakes. Why sir, 
I can read you in the same way. It is all done by phre- 
nology." We replied that it mattered not how it was 
done and asked him whether our last statement was 
true. "Are you quick tempered and irritable as we 
stated?" "No sir, I am not," said he, while every 
gesture, every expression of his countenance and the 
tone of his voice showed plainly that he was very 
angry. 

We then said : "Well, sir, you have stated that the 
reading was all correct excepting the last statement, 
and we will leave that to any person who may be 
acquainted with yon, or to the people who are present 
and have witnessed your ill temper in this matter." 

"No sir!" he shouted. "It is not true; besides I am 
a stranger here and no one knows me, and you are 
wrong sir. I can do this as well as you can. It is 
all done by phrenology;" and the young man was 
greatly excited as he took his seat. 

"Now, Mr. Chairman," said we, "to prove that we 
do not tell these things by phrenology, as our late 
friend declares, I will turn my back to the audience 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 181 

and ask that any middle aged man rise in his seat and 
speak a few words in a clear, natural voice and we will 
demonstrate that we do not do it by phrenology." 

I then turned my back and a gentleman arose, spoke 
a few words and resumed his seat before we turned 
our face to the audience. Then we proceeded to give 
him a life reading, pointing out his characteristics, pe- 
culiarities, etc., mentioning incidents and giving dates 
of experiences in his life that we saw, making more 
than a dozen positive tests, all of which the gentleman 
declared were correct. On being questioned the gen- 
tleman stated that he was a stranger to me, that he 
was not a Spiritualist and that this was his first ex- 
perience at one of their meetings. We then asked the 
audience if we had not vindicated ourselves and proved 
that our young friend was mistaken in his statement 
that it is all done by phrenology. The applause that 
followed showed clearly that we had, and thus, aided 
by our spirit friends, we added one more to the thous- 
ands of victories over our unfair and bigoted oppo- 
nents. 

Our last reading was given to a lady. We touched 
her hand to connect the battery and then said : "Your 
mother, now a spirit, is here." We gave a minute 
description of this spirit and continued as follows : 
"Your spirit daughter is also with you. She passed 
away many years ago when a little child. She says, 
'Mamma, I have grown to womanhood in spirit life. 
Everything is beautiful where I live and I am so happy 
to come and tell you of my heavenly home.' ' After 
giving a short description of her spirit home and stat- 
ing that she had been in grandma's care all these years, 
this beautiful angel left us to make way for a large, 
fine looking man, dressed in the uniform of a Federal 
soldier, whom we described and stated was the brother 
of the lady. Then followed a life reading of the lady 
herself and a description of her home surroundings, 
as well as the stating of other facts which are not dis- 
cerned by the mortal sight, and at the close of the 



182 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. - 

reading the lady told the audience that all that we had 
told her was true. She said: "My little girl passed 
away many years ago. Both of the names he has 
given me are correct." (The report in our diary does 
not give the names.) "He has described my dear 
mother perfectly. My brother was a soldier, and the 
life reading he gave me is correct. It is all true." 
"Then madam,'' said we, "it is proved that we have 
seen your spirit friends and they are here with you to- 
night ; and phrenology does not explain it." 

Mid great applause we retired to our seat. My be- 
loved spirit helper, E. V. Wilson, left me, and the 
meeting was dismissed. 

The following brief account of our work was pub- 
lished in the "Erie News" of May 2, 1895: 



"ERIE SPIRITUALISTS. 

"A Boom in the Belief of Ghostly Visitations through 
Mediums. 

"The First Society of Spiritualists are having a re- 
vival. E. W. Sprague, trance speaker and platform 
test medium, has been with them the last five Sundays, 
giving twelve lectures and two senaces. His lectures 
have been followed with tests, reading the characters, 
diagnosing the diseases of persons, describing clair- 
voyantly the spirits of departed friends, giving inci- 
dents and accidents in the lives of individuals, etc. 

A number have been converted and the newly or- 
ganized society is in perfect harmony. Mr. Sprague 
has been engaged for another month and will hold ser- 
vices in Jarecki Hall each Sunday at 3 and 7 :30 p. til. 
His tests are not of the I 'aid win kind. Everybody 
invited." 

The following report of our work in Erie, Pa., was 
published in the Progressive Thinker of May 22, 
L895: 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 183 

"Thomas R. Watson of Erie, Pa., writes as follows 
of the veteran worker, E. W. Spragne : "I want to 
tell your readers of a remarkable seance held at my 
house on Wednesday evening, May 8th. 

E. W. Sprague was the medium. There were twen- 
ty-seven persons present, the most of whom were skep- 
tics. Mr. Sprague opened the meeting with a few- 
remarks. Congregational singing followed, during 
which Mr. Sprague was controlled by that well known 
spirit, E. V. Wilson, who gave tests in the form of 
character readings, clairvoyant descriptions and com- 
munications, for two full hours. Fathers, mothers, 
wives, husbands, children and friends, some of whom 
were almost forgotten, were recognized. Others con- 
stantly remembered, put in an appearance through the 
aid of Spirit Wilson, giving incidents and accidents 
in the lives of those present, with dates and names. 
Some of the communications were given in poetry, and 
altogether it was a wonderful seance. I kept account 
of the number of positive tests given, and they num- 
bered 114, out of which 102 were recognized on the 
spot and some of the others were called to mind by the 
recipients later on. 

Mr. Sprague has been the speaker for the First 
Spiritual Society of this city for the past six weeks 
and will remain until the close of this month. Through 
the aid of his guides our society has grown stronger, 
new members are joining us, perfect harmony prevails 
and all are encouraged. Your valuable paper is 
thoroughly enjoyed and looked forward to each week 
by a large number of people." 

More Tests at Erie, Pa. 

May 22. 1895. We held a seance at the home of 
Mr. and Mrs. Clark M. Cole in Erie, Pa., at which 
we gave a dozen readings and one hundred tests. 
Mrs. Sprague followed me under deep control of "The 
Student" and gave four readings which were simply 



1 . s I A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

grand. She described several spirits, personated 
others, giving the names of some of them, and under 
personal control of others gave loving and consoling 
messages ; one of which was given to Mrs. D. — a 
stranger to us — which brought tears to the eyes of 
several. The lady receiving it gave way to her feel- 
ings and wept aloud, leaving her chair while her spirit 
husband was giving his message, but returning as 
soon as she could compose herself, when the spirit con- 
tinued and she received a long and encouraging mes- 
sage. 

Mrs. Sprague gave more than forty tests everyone 
of which was recognized and the spirit messages 
brought comfort and consolation to those receiving 
them. This was an interesting and remarkable seance. 
We all felt that it was good to be there and went away 
happy. Blessed spirit communion ! thou art "alto- 
gether lovely." 

Note from My Diary: "Sunday, May 2G, 1895. 
Held two meetings in Jirecki Hall, Erie, Pa. At a 
business meeting it was unanimously decided to apply 
for a charter with the N. S. A. This is one of the re- 
sults of our two months' work in Erie. Our theme for 
the afternoon lecture was 'The Needs of the Hour.' 
It was a glorious meeting and the spirits were with 
us in full power." 

"The tests and messages that followed were given 
by Mrs. Sprague. They were strong, right to the 
point, unmistakably true, and beautiful. I was proud 
of her and thankful to her inspirers. It is now proven 
true that she has a mission to fulfill in the way of 
platform work, and the prophecy made by E. V. Wil- 
son so long ago regarding it is now fulfilled." 

Meetings at Eagle Lake, Mich. 

On the 4th day of August, 1895, we held two meet- 
ings under the auspices of the Paw Paw Valley Spirit- 
ualist Association at Lake Side Park, Eagle Lake, 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 185 

Mich., Dr. B. O'Dell, president of the Association, 
presiding. 

At the morning meeting we delivered a lecture and 
followed it with tests. Two gentlemen arose for read- 
ings; we selected one and said: "You met with an ac- 
cident some years ago, in which you were injured 
here" (indicating the right side and back). "We see 
you lying prostrated but do not see what caused the 
accident. You suffered intensely from the straining 
of the muscles and you are suffering from that acci- 
dent at this moment." We then described a spirit, said 
it was his mother, and asked him to verify our state- 
ments. He said he had no such trouble and never met 
with such an accident. "Then this is a failure," said 
we. "No! no! it is not a failure. The spirit says the 
reading belongs to the gentleman who arose at the 
same time that you arose. Ask him." We did so and 
he replied as follows : "Well, yes. My back and side 
pain me now. Some years ago I was thrown by a 
horse while shoeing him and was badly hurt and ter- 
ribly strained as you have described. I have never 
recovered from it." We then gave a description cf 
the spirit who had given us the information and said : 
"This is your mother, is it not" and he replied : "That 
is a good description of my mother and she is dead." 

The investigator may ask how we came to make the 
mistake and first give this reading to the wrong man. 
We will answer briefly : The psychic laws and forces 
are very subtle and in dealing with them the medium 
should exercise great care, and even then is liable to 
mistake. The reflection of the image before the photo- 
grapher's camera is always inverted upon the lens. 
The lens of the clairvoyant is much finer and may be 
deceiving as to distance, etc. Then the magnetic aura 
surrounding each person being of different density, 
shade, color, influence, etc., from every other person, 
also has its effect. Clairvoyance is one of the finest, 
most subtle faculties, and the medium, who is the in- 
strument, through whom it is produced, must of neces- 



186 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

shy be one who is finely attuned in order for the spirit 
to play upon his organism with success. And the finer 
the instrument, the easier it is influenced by its sur- 
roundings. Knowing so little about conditions, as the 
ordinary public audiences do, the getting' of good me- 
dinmistic results from the platform is almost entering 
the shadow of the land of miracle. 

One more test we will record here. We said: ''The 
name of Cora is given to us. It is a spirit, and comes 
to some one in this part of the house" (pointing). A 
lady raised her hand and we said : "Yes mamma, I am 
your own little Cora." Then followed a message of 
greeting from this little angel to her mamma and papa. 
The spirit told them that she was attending school in 
spirit life, that grandma was taking care of her and 
that she was growing there the same as she did here, 
and closed by saying: "Dear mamma and papa do not 
grieve for me, I am happy only for your grief." We 
then described the spirit of "Grandma," saying: "Ala- 
dam, this is your mother. Do you recognize her from 
the description?" "Indeed I do," said she, "it is per- 
fect." 

After the meeting these good people came and feel- 
ingly thanked me for this perfect proof of the return 
of their little darling. They were deeply affected. 
This unexpected message was a solace to their sor- 
rowing hearts. 

There were four hundred people present in the after- 
noon and our service lasted two hours. One lady re- 
marked that not many ministers preaching the Chris- 
tian religion could command such close attention and 
hold an audience like that sitting on those rough board 
seats with no backs, for that length of time. 

The people were much pleased with our work of the 
day. We received many congratulations. One dear 
old lady came to Mrs. Sprague and said : "I want to 
touch the hem of his garment" — meaning mine. Mrs. 
Sprague asked if her garment would not do just as 
well. "No, no," said she, "I want to come in contact 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 187 

with that good man." Mrs. Sprague brought her to 
me. and introducing her told me of her request. I 
know I blushed. I was embarrassed, though I fully 
realized the great compliment she paid me. She was 
a sweet and motherly old lady with white hair, blue 
eyes, comely features, and a bright mind. Every fea- 
ture told the story of her goodness. I never saw her 
sweet face before nor have I since. She has probably 
gone to her spiritual home ere this. O, how beautiful 
is heaven ! It must be so, for it is peopled with lovely 
and harmonious souls such as this dear old lady. Heav- 
en is a condition of harmony. Whoever is in harmony 
with himself and his surroundings, whatever world he 
may occupy, is in heaven. It pays to be good. 

Many Proofs of a Future Life. 

At Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 8, 1895, we held a meet- 
ing in Grand Army Hall, No. 30 Deleware St. "The 
World Invisible, The World Real,'' was the theme 
upon which we based our discourse. "All real ener- 
gies are invisible. Spirit, mind, reason, force, and all 
powers that act are invisible. Men think, but who ever 
saw the thinker? W r e never see the man, we only see 
the clothing — the flesh — he wears. Worlds move, but 
no eye has seen the force that moves them. We are 
spirits to-day as much as we will be in a thousand 
years, and as spirits acting on our physical bodies, 
using the hands, eyes, tongue, etc., we are invisible 
to each other. The eye, the foot or the head is not 
the man. The man is the real energy that acts and 
is invisible. The spirit man survives death, manifests 
through matter, and is still invisible. There are no 
miracles. Spiritualism has analyzed the so-called mir- 
acles and has discovered that they are not miracles at 
all. but are natural phenomena, no more wonderful 
than the simplest manifestation of the visible man — so- 
called. I speak, I see, I think, but I know not how I 
do it. I act upon matter, and matter is seen to be 
acted upon, but I am invisible." We spoke for one 
hour along these lines and closed mid great applause. 



l s ^ A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Then followed the usual seance. Three spirits an- 
nounced themselves giving* their names as follows : 
Henry Arnold, Henry Andrews and William Johnson. 
Each one gave a message and was recognized. All 
their statements were verified by their friends who 
were present. 

We gave readings to six persons, and in all gave 
sixty-four tests, sixty-two of which were verified. I 
will record one of the readings : We gave anyone 
who wished for a reading, permission to rise and make 
it known. An elderly gentleman was the first to re- 
spond, and we said: "Sir, we see you at the age of 
seventeen years. You were overwhelmed with the 
duties that fell upon you. From that time until the 
age of twenty-six you had more than your own family 
to care for. At the age of forty-four you entered into 
a business transaction which proved to be a failure, 
and you lost nearly all that you had accumulated by 
years of hard labor and economy. Two years later 
you were prostrated by an accident. Six years ago 
last August you made a change which gave you more 
liberty than you had previously enjoyed for years." 
Ans. "That is true, sir." 

"You have acquired a competence and for the last 
twelve years you have felt perfectly at ease upon the 
question of finance. During your life you have 
changed your location five times, selling out, leaving 
friends and moving into new and strange surround- 
ings. A small amount of money fell to you by in- 
heritance, but it did you little good. You have earned 
all you possess. Your spirit mother is with you here 
to-day." Here we described her and asked if he recog- 
nized the description. Ans. "The description is cor- 
rect." "You inherited your mother's disposition. 
Your eyes are like hers, the upper part of your face 
resembles hers very much." We then told of his 
mother's life on earth, naming incidents and exper- 
iences that were hers, all of which he verified. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 189 

We continued by saying: "Your wife who sits be- 
side you thinks you are just right, with one exception : 
you are not quick enough to take advantage of oppor- 
tunities. She thinks you are in that respect a little 
slow." Wife nods her head. "You have lost money 
by listening to others.'' Wife, speaking quickly: 
"That's true ! that's true, sir !" "Now," said we, "can 
you verify every one of the more than twenty state- 
ments that we have made regarding yourself and your 
spirit mother?" Ans. "Every word is the truth." 
"Are you a stranger to this medium?" Ans. "I am. 
I never saw you before. I was never in this hall be- 
fore. It is very remarkable, sir." 

The audience applauded, the meeting was dismissed, 
and we went to our rooms happy in the knowledge 
that we are instruments in the hands of the spirit 
friends doing good. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Our Twenty-Eighth Wedding Anniversary — Letter 
from Leonidas, Mich. — Our First Engagement at 
Grand Ledge Camp Meeting — Spirit Messages at 
Elwood, Ind. — Excellent Demonstrations of Spirit 
Power at Indianapolis, Ind. 

Our Twenty-Eighth Wedding Anniversary. 

"Love knows no change but this, 
Ever to grow in bliss 
As years go rolling by ; 
And when its flowers have fled, 
The ripe grain waves instead, 
Food for souls on high. 



L90 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

"And love is never free. 
Butt e'er in unity 
With highest laws it moves-; 
Quenched are unholy fires, 
And dead are gross desires, 
In him who truly loves. 

"And love can never die 
In-linking the 'You and V 
Through all the bright To Come, 
Its sacred altars shine 
Among the stars, divine, 
Making our soul's true home." 

— Elizabeth Lowe Watson. 

Tuesday, August 13, 1895, was the twenty-eighth 
anniversary of our wedding. At this time we were 
filling an engagement at the Vicksburg (Mich.) Spirit- 
ualist camp meeting. The bell calling the people to 
the morning conference did not ring until a late hour, 
and when we entered the auditorium we were much 
surprised. The rostrum had been beautifully decor- 
ated with vines, evergreens and flowers in great varie- 
ty. In the background, printed artistically upon white 
cloth was the following: "May This Day Oft Return 
to Bless the Friends in the Visible." "August 13, 
1867, to August 13, 1895." This was bordered by 
vines, with here and there a beautiful water lily, mak- 
ing a very pretty frame for the inscription. There 
were two chairs on the platform decorated with vines 
and water lilies, and the Wedding March was played 
while the bride and groom were escorted to the ros- 
trum and seated in these chairs. Mrs. Sprague and I 
had received no hint of what was being done and were 
completely surprised. 

A solo, entitled "One Heart's Enough For Me, O 
Who Could Wish For More," was beautifully rendered 
by Mrs. Hursen. Following this Mrs. Woodruff, the 
presiding officer of the camp meeting, explained the 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 191 

purpose of this gathering, saying that it was the 
twenty-eighth anniversary day of the marriage of Mr. 
and Mrs. Sprague. She explained that as it was not 
possible for the friends to be their guests on this day 
of festivity, it was decided to make this young married 
couple the guests of the campers. It was a very appro- 
priate and happy little speech and was greeted with 
rounds of applause. Mrs. Woodruff then introduced 
Miss Cora Fuller, who recited "The Story of Some 
Bells." She was greeted with prolonged applause, 
and returning to the rostrum she recited "Our Rail- 
roads," a very comical recitation which was also great- 
ly enjoyed and applauded. 

After a season of short speeches by different ones, 
each expressing his or her love and good will for the 
young bride and groom, Mrs. Sprague responded with 
a very earnest and touching speech, relating some of 
the experiences these twenty-eight years had brought 
to them, mentioning their conversion to Spiritualism 
and not forgetting their two loving children, who had 
contributed so much to their more than a quarter of a 
century of happy partnership along life's journey. She 
closed by thanking the friends for this expression of 
their kindness and good will. 

Mrs. Hursen then sang the beautiful song, "Life's 
Journey," after which Air. Sprague spoke for a few 
minutes, when his "familiar spirit," "Payn," came and 
controlled him. He said he had been with him since 
his birth, accompanying him through storm and sun- 
shine, through valley and on hill top in his life exper- 
iences ; that he had labored long years to bring him 
out into the work of Spiritualism ; that the spirit world 
had brought this couple together for this very purpose, 
etc. (Are matches not sometimes made in heaven?) 
lie prophecied a great work for them in the future, 
and closed with an improvised poem touching upon 
their experiences, their work in life and in the great 
work of Modern Spiritualism, predicting greater things 
still to be accomplished through them in the future. 



L92 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Following this Mrs. Hursen improvised, played and 
sang a song that was full of tenderness and good will, 
and the chairman dismissed the meeting with a few 
kindly words. 

This was to us a beautiful and helpful meeting, and 
we shall always feel to bless the dear friends who con- 
tributed to the pleasure of the day. It is a joy to work 
with kindred souls, especially in a movement that 
unites heaven and earth, bringing comfort and con- 
solation to the sorrowing, and brightening the way of 
those who are groping in darkness regarding the 
future life, or entering the shadow of death. Heaven 
bless our friends. 

A Letter Which Explains Itself. 

"Leonidas, Mich., Sept. 10, 1895." 
"Mr. E. W. Sprague, Jamestown, N. Y. 

"Dear Brother : — Although we are strangers, I know 
you, as I had the pleasure of listening to your lecture 
August 11, 1895, at Vicksburg, Mich., at the camp 
meeting. 

"The reason why I write you is to tell you what 
has happened since that time. You gave a lady a test 
that day and told her of seeing some of her friends 
around her. You paused for a moment and then told 
her that she was going to move out of her old house 
and move into a new one. I was well acquainted with 
that lady; her name was Mrs. Sarah Cleveland, of this 
place. We have lived neighbor to her a great while. 
Well, the next day, August 12th, about 2 p. m., she was 
taken suddenly sick' and died August 23rd. Now if it 
is a fair question, did your control see anything to 
impress him that the lady was near her journey's end? 
T would be glad to hear from you. 

"Wishing you pleasure and success, I will close. 
"From a friend, 

"J. R. Lowther, 
"Leonidas, Mich." 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 193 

The lady was taken sick the next day after the 
prophecy was made, and in eleven days more she 
moved out of the "old house" of clay and entered her 
new dwelling- house, the spirit body. Was it a proph- 
ecy and its fulfillment, or only a coincidence? If it 
was the only experience of the kind it might be rele- 
gated to the realm of coincidence, but as it is a common 
occurrence among Spiritualists, it can hardly be ex- 
plained satisfactorily from that standpoint. If it was 
not a coincidence, then it was a prophecy fulfilled. 

Grand Ledge Spiritualist Camp Meeting. 

From July 30th to August 2nd, 1895, inclusive, we 
served the Grand Ledge Spiritualist Association for 
the first time, Mrs. Sprague and I both giving lectures 
and tests each day. Here we met several of the good 
co-workers for the first time, among whom may be 
mentioned Mrs. Abbie E. Sheets, Mrs. Martha E. Root, 
"Farmer" Riley, all of the officers of the camp, and 
several others. It is always a pleasure to us to meet 
and become acquainted with those who are laborers 
in the great field of reform, and it has been our privi- 
lege to meet most of the Spiritualist speakers and 
public mediums of the United States, as well as many 
of the officers and working members of societies, camp 
meetings, State x\ssociations, and of the National 
Association. We enjoyed the camp work at Grand 
Ledge very much, and had the satisfaction of knowing 
that it was well appreciated, as the following resolu- 
tions which were adopted and signed by the officers 
and campers and published in the "Banner of Light," 
shows : 

"Grand Ledge, Mich., August 2, 1895. 

"We, the undersigned Spiritualists in camp at Grand 
Ledge. Mich., desire herewith to give testimony in 
support of the ability of Mr. and Mrs. Sprague, and 
express it as our opinion that Spiritualism has as 
earnest, convincing advocates in them as upon the plat- 
form at the present time. Their lectures and tests 



194 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

will long remain as of great assistance to the cause at 
large and to Grand Ledge in particular. We wish 
them every success possible to be attained in this world, 
and a beautiful home in the spirit realms." 

Elwood, Indiana. 

At a meeting held in Elwood, Ind., October 13, 1895, 
we gave the following reading to Mr. H., a stranger 
to us. We said : "At seventeen years of age you went 
out into the world caring for yourself. From that time 
until you were twenty-one you had a hard struggle. 
At the age of forty-four you were in deep sorrow 
over the loss of a dear friend. Seven years ago you 
made a change in your life. You are in new surround- 
ings. It is like a new house ; everything is neat and 
clean. There is a spirit with you (describing him). 
He is your grandfather. You were a soldier. At 
twenty-four years of age we see you in battle. It is 
the War of the Rebellion." The gentleman verified 
our statements and we passed to the next. 

A. gentleman arose. We said: "Please speak to 
us, sir. We want to catch your voice." He did not 
speak, so we asked: ''What are your politics?" He 
replied : "I am a Prohibitionist" ; then turning to his 
companion he said in a low tone : "When I am alone." 
Then we said: "Sir, twice you came near losing your 
life by accident." "That's naught," said he, sneering- 
ly. "That will do, sir," said we, "you may sit down. 
You have offered an insult and we will not read for 
you." Reader, can you realize the meaning of such 
conditions as this poor, ignorant man made for his 
loved ones to communicate? If not, read on a little 
further. 

A lady arose and said: "Will you tell me some- 
thing, please?" "Yes, madam we will," we replied. 
"There is a dear little girl with yon. She is your little 
daughter." Here we were lead to personate, gasping 
for breath and between the gasps crying out, "Oh, 
Mamma! Oh, Mamma!" This so affected the lady 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 195 

that she cried out in distress and fell over into the arms 
of the lady sitting beside her. She soon rallied, how- 
ever, and her spirit child gave her a message in verse 
which was beautiful. The lady verified the test and 
said that her little one when passing away breathed 
just as I did, and her last words were, "Oh Mamma, 
Oh Mamma." "Now," said we, speaking to the audi- 
ence, "contrast this reading with that of the man for 
whom we just refused to read and note the conditions 
made by each and the results obtained. 

Excellent Demonstrations of Spirit-Power Given 
at Indianapolis, Ind. 

On Sunday, September 15, 1895, we held two meet- 
ings in G. A. R. hall, No. 30 l^orth Delaware avenue. 
Indianapolis, Ind. The morning discourse was based 
upon the subject of "prayer." The lecture was fol- 
lowed with demonstrations, and under the influence of 
E. V. Wilson we gave many remarkable and comfort- 
ing tests and messages, every one of which was 
verified. 

To a lady — Mrs. L. J. B., of Bloomington, Ind., who 
was a total stranger to us and a stranger in the city — 
we said : "Six weeks ago yesterday there was an acci- 
dent in your life which caused much excitement. 
Everything around you was excitement. You came 
very near losing your life. After the accident you 
were in doubt as to what you had better do, but on the 
following Monday you received word that brightened 
up the matter. It was two or three days before it was 
settled, but it was then settled to your satisfaction. 
Madam, can you verify these statements?'' 

She replied : "Yes, sir. It is all true. But how 
did you know it?" "We will tell you, madam. Your 
Spirit grandmother on your father's side told us of 
this and she says that she and Uncle John and Wil- 
liam Hardy (all spirits) were there and saved you 
from death." 



196 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Lady speaking : "This is wonderful. You have 
made one mistake, however. The accident occurred 
six weeks ago day before yesterday, instead of six 
weeks ago yesterday, as you stated. I was driving 
out in my surrey; a lady friend was with me, when 
a runaway team with a loaded wagon ran into ours., 
smashing it all to pieces and throwing us to the 
ground. We were taken home, where we found we 
were not seriously injured. We suffered only a few- 
bruises, but received a terrible nervous shock, from 
which we did not recover for several days. On the 
following Monday, while I was still in bed, word came 
to us that the owner of the team that caused the 
accident would pay us for the surrey, and two or three 
days later we received a check for the same." We 
inquired if she recognized the grandmother and the 
names of the spirits that we had given, and she replied : 
"I certainly do, and everything you have told me is 
true." "Are we strangers to each other?" we asked. 
She replied as follows : "We are strangers. I never 
met you before. I live sixty-five miles from here, and 
I came into the hall after you began speaking." 

Recapitulation : 
Test No. 1 — An accident happened to the lady. 
Test No. 2 — Accident hapened six weeks ago yester- 
day. (Undoubtedly I misunderstood 
the spirit as mortals misunderstand 
each other, thus making the mistake 
of one day. 
Test No. 3 — There was great excitement. 
Test No. 4 — The following Monday word came that 

brightened up the affair. 
Test No. 5 — Two or three days later the matter was 

settled satisfactorily. 
Test Xo. (I — Grandmother on father's side the inform- 
ant. 
Test Xo. 7 — Name of Uncle John, a spirit. 
Test Xo. 8 — Name of William Hardy, a spirit. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 197 

We stated that these three spirits saved them from 
great injury or death ; the lady said afterward that 
everybody thought it a miracle that they were not 
killed. Here are eight positive tests given without 
knowledge of the facts on our part. If this is not 
proof, what would be proof of any truth? 

On Wednesday, September 25, 1895, after a short 
lecture, we gave a few readings, among which were 
the following: At our request a lady came forward, 
we touched her hand, she returned to her seat and we 
read as follows : "There is a little girl who follows 
you down the aisle."' We described her carefully and 
the lady said : "Yes, that is my little niece ; the descrip- 
tion is unmistakable." We described a gentleman also 
whom she recognized. Then we said : "Just nineteen 
minutes ago you were criticizing our lecture and our 
language." The lady seemed much confused and em- 
barrassed and we asked if this statement was not true. 
After gaining her self control she said: "Yes, it is 
true, but my criticism was very favorable to you." 
(Laughter.) 

Continuing, we said : "A spirit tells me that you are 
greatly disturbed mentally; that you are not satisfied 
with the results of your hard labor. Justice has not 
been meted out to you. You have made no complaint, 
nor have you mentioned this excepting to one lady, 
though you have suffered much. We hear a voice 
saying 'Mother' and 'brother.' It is your spirit mother 
and brother." We described the mother and said: 
"Her eyes were weak in this life and she had a habit 
of shading them with her hand when she looked at 
you." I have no mother in spirit life," said she. "Ma- 
dam." said we, "you have a mother and a grandmother 
in spirit life, and both are here." The mother is your 
mother-in-law, but she is a mother-in-love." "That is 
true," said she, speaking with earnestness. "She was 
a dear mother to me." We also described her brother 
and she verified the description. We then said : "You 
are a stranger to us and a skeptic, and all we have told 



198 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

you is true, is it not?'' "It is all perfectly true," said 
she. "I am a stranger to you, and I am not a Spirit- 
ualist." 

I then turned my back to the audience and gave 
permission for any one who wished for a reading to 
rise and speak that the audience might know who we 
were reading for. A gentleman arose and said : "Cart 
yon see anything for me?" With back still turned to 
the audience we answered : "Yes, sir, we can see a 
scar on your left knee which was caused by an accident 
when yon were fifteen years of age." "That's the 
truth!" said he, and the audience laughed. 

Continuing, we said : "The spirit of a little lady 
comes to you. She has dark brown hair, blue eyes, 
full forehead and high cheek bones. She has a sweet 
face, though it is thin. Her transition was caused by 
what may be termed lingering consumption. She was 
sick a long time and became very much emaciated. 
She now places her hand upon your shoulder, looks 
into your face and speaks, but only a whisper. Before 
she passed away she was so weak she could not speak 
aloud. We catch these whispered words : 'God bless 
you my darling husband. You were so good to me ; 
so kind and tender throughout that long and terrible 
trial. You were so patient, so loving. I did not want 
to leave you, but I feel better now. Forgive me 
darling for the trouble I caused you. It was my weak 
and nervous condition that caused my lack of patience. 
T am so glad to come. I will come again when I can.' 
And bidding him good bye the spirit left us. We then 
asked the gentleman to tell the audience how much of 
the reading he recognized, and whether we were 
acquainted or not, so the people would be able to judge 
of the value of this manifestation." His answer was 
as follows : "I never saw you until to-night. All you 
have said is true. It was my wife." And overcome 
with emotion he sat down weeping. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 19!) 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Meetings Held in Fort Wayne, Ind. — Mrs. Sprague 
Holds an Interesting Seance. Women's Curiosity 
Leads to Knowledge of Great Truth — Trumpet 
Seance, Medium Sewed in a Sack — Good Metho- 
dist Receives and Verifies Many Tests. 

Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

On Sunday, Nov. 10, 1895, at one of a series of 
meetings held at Ft. Wayne, Ind., we gave thirteen 
readings and one hundred tests to an audience of 
sixty-five persons. Our lecture, based on the subject: 
"What Has Modern Spiritualism Accomplished in 
Forty Seven years?" was well received and at its close 
we asked for a subject for an improvised poem. Four 
words were given us, namely: "babe," "life," "soul," 
and "sorrow." Each word was given by a skeptic and 
the four were woven into a poem which was highly 
appreciated judging from the applause that followed. 
Then came the tests. 

1st. To a gentleman we said: "You, sir, are 
a natural skeptic. You possess great presence 
of mind, and know just what to do in case of 
excitement or emergency. In case of a fire you 
would not drag or carry a log-chain clear across the 
street, or throw a mirror through the window to save 
them from destruction by fire. You have not been on 
your knees in prayer since you came to maturity." 
The gentleman stated that he was a stranger to me, 
and that our statements were all correct excepting the 
one regarding his praying. 

2nd. To Dr. H. V. Sweringen we described a dis- 
secting table with a delicately formed lady lying upon 
it. We gave a name, described three professors with 



200 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

him standing around the tabic and told of a conver- 
sation that was held between one of them and the 
doctor in which it was said that there was an un- 
natural growth causing a misplacement of the organs, 
one professor saying it was a very uncommon case, 
etc. We then said: ''In connection with thjs matter 
we hear the name of Dr. Woodworth." The doctor 
recognized the test and later stated that Dr. Wood- 
worth was one of the old and prominent physicians of 
Ft. Wayne wdio had passed to the higher life some 
years before our first visit to Ft. Wayne, and that he 
used to meet him with other physicians and professors 
of the Medical College there, in many consultations, 
post mortem examinations, etc. 

3rd. To a lady we said : "There are five spirits 
with you. The first is your mother," whom we de- 
scribed. "There are also two gentlemen," whom we 
described. One of them we said passed away sud- 
denly, his death being caused by an injury. We told 
her of her two children — a boy and a girl — that we 
saw, and said that the girl passed away while suffer- 
ing greatly. We saw her as she lay tossing and rolling 
from side to side and moaning. We closed this read- 
ing by giving a message from this spirit to her 
grieving mother, and she gratefully acknowledged the 
message and verified the tests. 

4th. The spirit of William Johnson reported but no 
one responding we passed it by. After giving our at- 
tention to other influences a lady arose and said: "I 
recognize the spirit of Wm. Johnson." We told her 
that she had delayed so long in responding that the in- 
fluence had left us and we had no power over him to 
bring him back, but if he again reported we would 
tell her. 

5th. To a gentleman: "We see the spirit of an old 
gentleman with gray hair of large size, with full fore- 
head and deep set eyes. He is your grandfather on 
your father's side, and his name is William. He tells 
us that six weeks ago you made a change in your busi- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 201 

ness, and though you now feel a little disturbed about 
-it, the results of that change will be excellent." We 
then asked the gentleman if he had changed his busi- 
ness six weeks before, if we had described his father's 
father correctly, if his name was William as we had 
stated. He replied as follows : "You are right in 
every particular. I don't know how you get it, but it 
is all correct." "Are we strangers?" we asked. "Yes, 
sir, we are," said he, "I never saw you before." 

6th. "The name of Alice is given to us. It is Alice 
T, or Alice P. The letter not being clear." A lady in 
the audience said : "I wonder if that is for me ?" We 
replied: "Yes, Alice is your spirit daughter and she 
comes to bring you her love and blessing from her sum- 
merland home. Four times have you looked upon the 
faces of your loved dead and prayed for light regard- 
ing the awful mystery of death. That light comes to 
you to-day. Your four loved ones are here to bless 
and comfort you. Each one would gladly give you a 
message but only one must suffice as there are others 
to communicate. Your spirit daughter with tears in 
her eyes pleadingly asks to give you her message, and 
we will grant her request." The spirit then gave this 
sorrowing mother a sweet and comforting message in 
verse, which our scribe was unable to record. Fol- 
lowing this we described a tall man who passed away 
from the effects of a disease of the lungs, gave other 
facts, dates, etc., and the lady verified every statement. 

7th. W r e gave the name of Henry Winer. No one 
responded to it and we passed it by. 

8th. We invited any person who wished for a read- 
ing to signify it by rising. Two persons arose ; we 
selected one and said: "Since you were a boy you 
have had to earn your own living." "No, sir, you are 
mistaken." said he. We then asked the other gentleman 
to rise again, and we give him a careful description of 
a spirt gentleman whom we saw, and said : "It is your 
father, and he tells us that you had to care for your- 
self when a boy." "Not so," said he. "Is your father 



B02 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

in spirit life as we have stated?" "Yes, sir/' said he. 
"Have we not given a correct description of him?" 
"You have," he replied. We then said: "Your spirit 
father tells us that you were thrown upon your own 
resources when you were a boy and you were obliged 
to take the whole care of yourself instead of remaining 
at home until you were twenty-one years of age. 
Now, sir, does not your spirit father tell the truth?" 
"Yes, that is true," said he. "I was thrown upon my 
own resources and made my own living before I was 
of age, but not when a little child." "We did not say 
it happened when you were a little child," said we. 
"We said you were thrown upon your own resources 
when you were a boy, and this is what your spirit 
father tells us. The test is correct and you have ack- 
nowledged it. You would have received a much more 
valuable message from your spirit father, sir, if you 
had given him a more cordial welcome and had not 
been quite so technical and exacting." 

Note. — The public is very much in need of educa- 
tion regarding the necessary conditions for spirit mes- 
sages, and spirit manifestations. 

9th. To Mr. K. we described a man dressed in the 
garb of a clergyman. We also described a lady say- 
ing: "This lady is your mother. She was a religious 
woman. She has been your guardian spirit since she 
passed to spirit life fifteen years ago. She has warned 
you of danger many times. She now shows me rail- 
road tracks and a child. You saved the life of that 
child and were led to the place where this occurred by 
the impression of your spirit mother. She is your con- 
stant companion and spirit mentor. The promises that 
have, been made to you, great though they are, will 
be fulfilled if you follow your present intentions. 
r \ nese statements were all verified by Mr. K. 

10th. Turning to a gentleman, we said: "Sir, four 
years ago you made a change in your business. Two 
years ago you made another one, and two weeks ago 
you made still another change. The forces around 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 203 

you are disturbed. You are in an unsettled state of 
mind at this time ; you are in doubt how to proceed. 
You need not worry, but let things take their course 
and it will be all right with you in a little time, as 
soon as you get settled." "There is a young man that 
comes to you.'' We described him and continuing, 
said: "He brings a jolly, happy influence. You were 
boys together and w r ere chums." "There comes also 
an old gentleman to you." We gave a detailed de- 
scription of this spirit and said : "In earth life he walked 
with a cane," which we described. "There are five 
letters in his name." "We described a lady who, we 
said, was his grandmother, and then asked him to 
kindly testify to the truth of our statements. The 
gentleman stated that we were strangers never having 
met before, and said : "Every statement you have made 
is correct, and there is more meaning to me in some 
things that you have said than others can understand. 
I am not a Spiritualist, and this is the first meeting of 
the kind that I ever attended." 

11th. To a gentleman we said: "You are a person 
of a peculiar nature and temperament. You have 
strong likes and dislikes. Order is a leading charac- 
teristic in your make up. You have an excellent memory 
of events but not of dates and names. There is a spirit 
of a foreigner with you — a German. Your ancestors 
were German. You have been in business for yourself 
since you were fifteen years of age. Six years ago 
you enlarged your business, taking in more terri- 
tory and reaching more customers. With your cau- 
tious and painstaking methods coupled with your en- 
ergy and perseverance you will be successful. You 
are pleasant and obliging, but are most too serious to 
be pleasing. You are trying to cultivate a more affa- 
ble and attractive manner and you are succeeding in 
the effort. This will prove of great value to you in 
the line of business you are engaged in, and will be a 
source of pleasure to yourself and to your friends. 



'. )() I A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

The spirit of the German whom we described gave us 
all that we have given you." 

The gentleman arose and said: "I recognize per- 
fectly the spirit you have described. You have set 
forth my characteristics as well as I could do it my- 
self. Your statements regarding my business are cor- 
rect. In fact everything you have said is true. I 
thank you." 

12th. To a lady who arose in the extreme back 
part of the house and asked for a reading, we said : 
"Madam, there is a spirit who comes to you' giving the 
name of Willie. Your uncle also comes wearing a 
soldier's uniform, and he says you are a medium ; that 
you sometimes have visions, and that some of your 
dreams come true. Unfortunately for you and for 
your friends, you inherited from your mother a de- 
spondent nature. You become much depressed at 
times. You have had some terrible experiences of 
which we will not speak at present." 

After being interrogated the lady said that she recog- 
nized the soldier uncle, and also the name "Willie ;" 
that we were correct about her having inherited a de- 
spondent nature from her mother; that the reading 
was all correct and that she was a stranger to us. 

13th. To a lady we said: "You have over-wrought 
your nervous system. You are of a nervous tempera- 
ment, every nerve responding to the slightest thought. 
Yours has been an active life causing your nervous 
system to be drawn to the tightest tension. On awak- 
ening in the morning you feel depressed and it is hard 
for you to get the mastery of conditions so as to be 
able to go through the day. Your great will power 
lias been your savior. You need a season of quiet and 
perfect rest from care and labor. 

There is a spirit of a lady here who comes to you 
bringing a little babe. They both went to spirit life 
together. There is also a young man here who passed 
to spirit life in a railroad wreck. He is your brother- 
in-law, who was crushed, and brings a frightened feel- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 205 

ing. His last words were : "Oh God ! it is all over 
now.'' He wants to send a communication home but 
is not able to do so because I am becoming so much 
exhausted. The forces are becoming too weak and 
we can do no more." 

We gave many tests that are not recorded in these 
thirteen readings. Mrs. Sprague could not note them 
all because we talked so rapidly. There were more 
than one hundred tests of spirit life, spirit presence 
and spirit identity given in this seance, including those 
given in describing spirits and others not here record- 
ed, and only two of them that were not verified. 
Eleven of the thirteen persons receiving tests acknowl- 
edged that they w T ere strangers to us. We were 
acquainted with two of them, namely : Dr. Sweringen 
and Mr. Kilpatrick. 

In this as in other similar cases, the public constitute 
the jury which decides the case. We bring the evi- 
dence before that jury ; the evidence consists of state- 
ments given by witnesses well known to individual 
members of the audience. Though the witnesses that 
testify in each case are as the world terms it "dead," 
yet if the testimony is of such kind as proves its truth 
and the instrument through which it is transmitted is 
proven to be entirely ignorant of the facts so stated, 
then it should be accepted as valid or at least as of as 
much value as an affidavit taken by some officer in an- 
other State, of witnesses whom the jury know nothing, 
whom they never saw and of whose truthfulness they 
are ignorant. The affidavit of the stranger is ac- 
cepted by the jury, and it may send a prisoner to his 
death though the witness may have perjured himself. 
So long as the witness is not convicted of the crime of 
perjury, the jury must accept the testimony supposed 
to have been sworn to in the affidavit. Such juror can- 
not positively swear that the witness named in the 
affidavit ever say the officer or made affidavit to the 
statements recorded in it. It might possibly be a for- 
gery. Yet with all this, he is expected to decide the 



206 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

case in accordance with the testimony, even though it, 
the testimony, is not self evident truth. With spirit 
messages and spirit manifestations it is different; the 
messages, communications and physical phenomena 
carry with them the evidence of their truth. 

In all reason and with calm, careful judgment there 
is enough proof of the truth of the claim that departed 
spirits return and communicate with mortals, given in 
the seance recorded above, to win any case in an un- 
biased court of honest, critical judgment. Our wit- 
nesses are numerous ; the amount of evidence is over- 
whelming; and the jury hearing the testimony, and 
receiving the evidence, grants a verdict in our favor. 
We win the case and can proclaim with Jesus : "For 
there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed ; 
neither hid that shall not be known." (Luke XII, 2.) 

Mrs. Sprague Holds an Interesting Seance. 

On Monday, Nov. 11, 1895, while serving The Oc- 
cult Science Society of Ft. Wayne, Ind., Mrs. Sprague 
held a seance in the parlors of Brown's Hotel. There 
were twenty-five persons present and each one received 
messages and tests. Among those present were three 
ladies who were in a state of reticence and having the 
appearance of novices in attending seances. They evi- 
dently came out of curiosity. We subsequently learned 
that they were the wives of prominent business men 
of the city. 

"Mendota" entranced Mrs. Sprague and gave a 
number of readings before reaching these three ladies. 
When she came to them another spirit took control of 
her and taking the hands of one she called her mother 
and talked to her, weeping while she talked. There 
were tears in the eyes of other members of the circle 
while this beautiful spirit was giving her message to 
that sadly bereaved mother. When the spirit ceased 
speaking the poor mother cried out : "O my child ! my 
darling child ! My own dear one !" "Dearest mother," 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 207 

said the spirit, "you do know me, don't you?" . "O, 
yes, darling one," she replied, "you have proved to me 
that it is certainly you. O, this is beautiful!" 

These three ladies received separate messages from 
their loved ones and were made happy thereby. We 
subsequently learned that they never attended a seance 
before ; that they stole away not wanting anyone to 
know that they would attend such a place. The lady 
who received the message said that Mrs. Sprague 
acted exactly as her little girl did before she died; 
that she never called her "mamma" but always called 
her "mother" as she had to-night, etc. 

These three ladies will never forget the experience 
of that evening, though that unfeeling tyrant named 
"Modern Society" holds them in its iron grasp and 
they never attend another seance. It was to them the 
experince of their life time. It is quite probable that 
their husbands, like many other people, are too busy 
making money to spend any time in the investigation 
of the all important question of what the future has 
in store for them and their loved ones, so they leave 
the matter wholly to their priest or minister, and know 
no more until death overtakes them. 

A Trumpet Seance, Medium Sewed in a Sack. 

On Thursday evening, Nov. 14, 1895, at the close 
of our meeting held in A. O. U. W. Hall, Ft. Wayne, 
Ind. Mr. A. A. Finney then of Ft. Wayne, held a 
test seance in the hall. The following report of that 
seance taken from "The Light Of Truth" of Nov. 30, 
1005, tells the story: 

"Mr. Finney's hands were tied behind him ; then he 
was placed in a sack made of canton flannel ; the draw- 
string was drawn tightly about the neck and tied at 
the back. He was seated in a chair inside of the circle. 
Two holes were made in the back of the sack, a string 
was put through them and tied around his wrists and 
the ends of the strong cords brought out and tied to 
the rungs of the back of the chair. Then the sitters 



208 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

were tied ; the right wrist of one sitter to the left wrist 
of the one next to him until the whole circle was tied 
together, thereby putting- the members of the circle 
under test conditions as well as the medium. 

When all were securely tied and the medium ''sack- 
ed" and tied, and a guitar, trumpet, and bell placed 
upon the table in the center of the circle, a gentleman 
( Mr. Studor), who was selected for the purpose, ex- 
tinguished the light, then struck a match, and by its 
light stepped over the hands of two of the sitters, 
opened the door of the hall, passed through and closed 
it behind him. There was no one left in the room 
that was not tied. 

After singing, the trumpet was moved, and the 
usual trumpet speaking was heard. At one time the 
guitar was played, the bell rang-, and a voice was heard 
singing through the trumpet, while the instruments 
were all floating around the room. At another time 
a voice spoke to me, which purported to be that of E. 
V. Wilson, thanking me for the interest I had taken 
in his good wife, and for my assistance in helping her 
to get out a new edition of his book, etc. ; and at the 
same time there were three other voices, independent 
of the trumpet, speaking in the room, each giving a 
message to friends. After this Mr. Studor lighted a 
match, opened the door, came into the room and sat 
down outside of the circle and the manifestations con- 
tinued. 

When the light was turned on every member was 
still tied in his place, as was also Mr. Finney, the 
medium. There were twenty-five persons present, 
many of whom were skeptics ; and all were much 
pleased and well satisfied with the results." 

(Signed E. W. Spragne.) 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 209 

A Good Methodist Receives and Verifies Many 
Tests. 

At Ft. Yayne, Ind.; Nov. 14, 1895, our lecture was 
followed with tests and messages as usual, and much 
good was accomplished by the meeting. I will record 
one reading : To a gentleman — Mr. J. O. — who arose 
in his seat and asked for a reading, we said : "We 
see you when you were a little boy coming west with 
your father, who is moving his family into this country 
from your home in the East. It was all new here at 
that time. He comes with a team, a wagon upon 
which is loaded all the family possessions excepting 
the cow, which is tied to the wagon and being led be- 
hind. You were but nine years old at the time, sir." 
"That's true," said Mr. O., with energy. "We now 
see you when conditions have changed. You are a 
young man ; your father has prospered ; he is the pos- 
sessor of a great luxury ; it is a buggy or carriage. 
It is a new one and about the only one in the neighbor- 
hood. Your father lets you take it; you go riding 
with a young lady. Now our vision changes ; it is 
night and you are driving home in the dark. It is so 
very dark that you cannot see the road. Suddenly 
there is a collision ; a wagon crashes into your new 
buggy and takes off a wheel. Both you and the girl 
are thrown out of the carriage, but you do not let the 
horse, get away." 

"This little trouble came very near causing you and 
your father to dissolve partnership. Your father, who 
is now a spirit, has given me these facts. . He also 
shows me a whip and indicates to me that he used it 
quite severely as an argument calculated to convince 
you that you deserved punishment for this accident." 
Mr. O. with great earnestness said: "That is every 
word true. I was out with my girl when it happened, 
just as you have told it, sir. It is all correct." 

This man was a Methodist, and he was astonished 
and a little excited over the test. And thus the evi- 



210 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED; 

dence of a future life increases, and thus are the doubt- 
ers convinced. 

Some people form an opinion and then try to force 
everything to conform to that opinion. It is far better 
to get the facts first, and then the opinion will be 
formed from conviction. Conviction is a better and 
much safer foundation upon which to base a reliable 
conclusion or a religious belief, than is prejudice or 
bigotry. 

Christian Ministers Wish to Enter the Spiritualist 
Ministry. 

During the two months of December, 1896, and 
January, 1897. while serving the Fort Wayne Spirit- 
ualist Society that we had previously chartered with 
the N. S. A., I was approached by three Christian 
ministers, who told me that they were Spiritualists, 
who wanted my advice regarding resigning their 
charges and entering the field of Spiritualism. One 
was a Baptist, one was a Unitarian and one was a 
Presbyterian. I will record the experience with one 
of them. 

One evening after the meeting closed this minister 
came forward, introduced himself and asked to see me 
privately. I took him aside and he told me that he 
was a married man, had daughters just entering so- 
ciety, that he had a charge and was drawing a living 
salary. He said he was a Spiritualist and wanted to 
know what would be the opportunities for him to enter 
the Spiritualist ranks as one of its ministers. 

I explained to him that the pay would be small. 
that he would have to become an itinerant preacher 
going from place to place and would probably oftimes 
find himself without employment. I also told him that 
many of his best and most intimate friends in the 
church would turn against him, that he would be os- 
tracised, misrepresented and condemned. That his 
wife and daughters would probably be cast out from 
social and private favor. In fact that many of his 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 211 

friends in the church would condemn and harass both 
him and his family, and I would advise him to remain 
in the church until the National Spiritualist Associa- 
tion, which was then being organized, became stronger, 
meanwhile giving his congregation Spiritualism in 
small doses and without labeling it. 

With an expression of great earnestness and with 
tears in his eyes, he said: "Mr. Sprague, I have been 
a Spiritualist for six years and have been doing just 
what you suggest, but it is hard to keep the blessed 
truths of Spiritualism under cover. I feel it is wrong 
when the inspiration is upon me to hide its source." 
"Oh," said he, "I would give the world if I were as 
free as you are." 

In this case soul met soul in sweetest sympathy and 
my heart went out to this dear man who by the very 
nature of his environment, was a slave of the very 
worst type, a slave to unjust public opinion to religious 
prejudice to consummate ignorance. 

I am certain that many ministers of the Christian 
religion are unjustly censured because they do not 
stand up for their honest convictions in the face of 
their ignorant followers. We may say we would not 
be deprived of the right of free speech if we were in 
their places, but we cannot tell how much some honest 
men suffer because of the mental bondage and ignor- 
ance of some of their followers. 

"\Ye have had several experiences similar to the one 
recorded above. If Spiritualism were popular, and 
paying large salaries, an army of present-day orthodox 
ministers would quickly enter our ranks. 



312 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Angered Christian Leaves Hall, Reads Scripture, Re- 
turns with Family — ''Do Spiritualists have a Pa- 
per Too?" — United Brethren Explains 'Trick" of 
Test Giving — Readings and Tests — Closing Meet- 
ing and Remarkable Tests at Huntington, Ind. 

Angered Christian Leaves Hall. 

On November 12, 1895, while we were holding 

meetings in Huntington, Ind., Mr. , a United 

Brethren Christian, could not endure to hear us quote 
scripture and so the poor fellow walked out of the hall. 
There were many intelligent church people present and 
they remained until the close of the meeting and were 
in attendance at the following meetings until the 
course of lectures closed. As this Christian man 
walked out of the meeting, a good Spiritualist at the 
door, who had made a note of some of the passages of 
scripture that I had quoted, told me he gave him a 
list of them and that the man replied he would have 
his people read them as soon as he reached home, as 
he could not read or write. This gentleman must have 
heard the passages of scripture referred to read, be- 
cause he returned to hear us the next evening bringing 
his wife and daughter, and they did not miss one of 
our lectures afterward. 

Another peculiar incident was this : A lady who 
said she had been a Spiritualist for many years, was 
given a "Progressive Thinker," when she exclaimed, 
"And have they got a paper too?" Surely, "It takes 
all kinds of people to make the world." 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 213 

The "Trick" Explained. 

At a meeting held in the same place the following 
evening we were told that a good Christian of the 
United Brethren Church had discovered and told his 
neighbors the secret method used by Mr. Sprague in 
giving his tests and communications to the strangers in 
his audiences. It was that Mr. Sprague was a tele- 
graph operator; that he wrote to the telegraph oper- 
ator at Huntington telling him when he would be 
here, and arranged with him to put in a wire leading 
to the hall where he was to speak ; then this wire was 
laid from the platform to some place in the audience, 
and when Mr. Sprague gives anyone in the audience 
the privilege of rising for a reading, the telegraph 
operator sitting there at the wire, sees who rises and 
telegraphs a message to Mr. Sprague by manipulating 
the wire with his foot, telling him what to say. 

O, United Brethren Christian ! to you belongs the 
honor of solving the mighty problem that has baffled 
the great scientists, philosophers and theologians of 
the world for more than half a century. The mar- 
velous mind that reasoned out that wonderful, scien- 
tific ( ?) explanation of these phenomena is capable of 
explaining the great ( ?) and wonderful Christian doc- 
trines of "A Physical Ressurection," "Total Depra- 
vity," "Special Creation," "Eternal Punishment," "In- 
fallible Bible," including its awe inspiring stories. 
Among these are the story of Joshua stopping the sun ; 
Samson catching three hundred foxes and turning 
them "tail to tail" putting "a firebrand in the midst 
between two tails" setting the brands on fire, and 
letting the foxes go into the standing corn of the 
Philistines, burning up both the shocks and also the 
standing corn with the vineyards and olives ; thus 
causing a famine ; Jacob wrestling with God all night, 
getting his hip broken in the fracas and then refusing 
to let the Almighty go, holding him fast until he 
blessed him. Abraham having one wife and two con- 



81 I A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

ctibines; King David with seven wives and ten concu- 
bines, and King Solomon, the greatest of them all, 
living happily with seven hundred wives and three 
hundred concubines. This good man of Huntington 
who has discovered the "trick" and virtually accuses 
me and the telegraph operator of Huntington of the 
vile crime of fraud and deceipt, doubtless will be able 
to explain all the above mentioned miracles and won- 
ders and satisfy (?) intelligent men and women how 
it is that Abraham, David, Solomon, and the many 
other "Holy men of God," could have so many wives 
and not be polygamists, nor interfere with the moral 
law of Jehovah, as it is interpreted by the United 
Brethren Church. 

None but a fanatical Christian could conjure up 
such a masterly (?) explanation of the "trick" by 
which the natural spirit phenomena of today is pro- 
duced and at the same time accept as infallible truth 
such unreasonable, immoral, and impossible scripture 
stories as referred to above, and hundreds of others 
equally as absurd and immoral, which are recorded in 
"the infallible word of God." 

Readings and Tests. 

At Huntington, Indiana, Nov. 20, 1895, after de- 
livering a lecture on the subject of "Heredity, from the 
Stand Point of Modern Spiritualism," we gave many 
fine tests and messages among which were the follow- 
ing: 

To a lady who asked for a reading, we said : "We 
see you when you were a girl. You are riding out 
with a young man, the horse becomes unmanageable 
and runs away. The buggy strikes the fence, is torn 
to pieces and left in the fence corner. You are not in- 
jured but the young man's leg is badly hurt. You 
walk on a little further to a farm-house ; an old lady 
with an apron over her head, crying and laughing al- 
most at the same time, comes down to the gate to meet 
you." 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 215 

"Your spirit mother is here. It is she who tells us 
this and she tells us more." We then read the lady 
giving her leading characteristics, detailing incidents, 
naming dates, etc., in her life. The lady wept when 
we told her of her mother's presence and proved its 
truth by describing her, giving her leading character- 
istics, temperament, disposition, etc. We gave this 
lady more than twenty tests, every one of which she 
verified. 

These remarkable tests, the mother's message and 
the daughter's tears made an impressive and beautiful 
closing to this spiritualist meeting. At its close we 
were surrounded by a large number of the members 
of our Congregation who complimented, congratu- 
lated and thanked us. One lady taking my hand, her 
eyes brimming with tears, said : "O, Mr. Sprague, I 
cannot tell you how thankful I am to you for this 
meeting, for now I know that life continues after 
death and our loved ones still live." O, how beautiful, 
how blessed is mediumship ! it is priceless as it is 
sacred. 

A gentleman, Air. R., who was a railroad superin- 
tendent, by his own request, was introduced to me by 
Air. Johnson, and he said: "Mr. Sprague, I never saw 
anything in the line of Spiritualism before, but I must 
say that what you do is above suspicion, and I wish 
to add that I believe you are an honest man." I 
thanked him for this highest of compliments and ex- 
pressed my gratification in having favorably impressed 
him with the truth of our beautiful religion. 

One family drove eight miles to the meeting and 
drove home at its close. One man walked from An- 
drews, a little place six miles away, and walked home 
after the meeting. He did this every time we held a 
meeting in Huntington and said he should be glad to 
continue to do so. The people over the whole country 
are starving for Spiritualism, and some Spiritualists 
are gladly responding to their needs. 



216 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Just before closing our meeting at Huntington on 
the evening of Nov. 25, 1895, while giving tests, we 
saw, clarivoyantly, and described a railroad accident. 
We saw a man, described him, said he was killed by 
the cars, and that his name was Martin. Mr. W. W. 
Johnson, with whom we were stopping, was a railroad 
man and was away on the road at the time this test 
was given. When he returned he informed us that 
such an accident had occurred on his road that day, 
the man we had described was killed, and his name 
was Martin. No one in the meeting knew of the ac- 
cident, and I certainly knew nothing of it. I did not 
receive this knowledge from mortals. It may have 
reached me by telepathy. I am quite certain that it 
did; but, the mental vibrations that reached our re- 
ceiving instrument (the brain) were produced by the 
minds of members of our spirit band. This I know 
to be the fact. My long experience and familiarity 
with my spirit helpers have demonstrated it to me be- 
yond a single doubt. 

Closing Meeting and Remarkable Tests at 
Huntington. 

On Wednesday, Nov. 27, 1895, we held the last of 
a series of eight meetings in Huntington, two having 
been held each week — Tuesday and Wednesday even- 
ings. During this time we organized a fine society, 
and chartered it with the N. S. A. Our good friend, 
Mr. John Bippus, one of Huntington's leading citizens, 
was made its president. 

At 7:30 p. m. we were at the G. A. R. Hall, where 
1 1 5 people had assembled to listen to our last lecture 
of the course. Eleven written questions and subjects 
for discussion were presented by the audience for our 
consideration, namely: "Temperance," "Honest 
Thought," "Woman Suffrage," "Superstition," "Spir- 
itualism," "What about Future Punishment?" "Hell 
and How to Avoid It," "What Will Be the Outcome 
of this Movement in this City?" "The Social Prob- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 217 

lems, How Shall They Be Solved?" "What are Your 
Views Regarding Spirit Obsession?" "The Spiritualis- 
tic Powers of Christ." 

These are eonugh subjects for one lecture we feel 
assured. After the usual preliminaries, music and an 
invocation, these eleven questions and themes were 
each considered as briefly as possible, but some of 
them were of such importance that our discourse oc- 
cupied over one hour. The audience was very atten- 
tive and seemed well pleased with the lecture. In 
those days we always fulfilled that passage of scrip- 
ture which reads as follows : "Take no thought be- 
forehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premedi- 
tate ; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, 
that speak ye : for it is not ye that speak, but the 
Holy Ghost" (Mark XIII, 11). 

The term "Holy Ghost" means spirit power. No 
other intelligent definition can be given and reason- 
ably explain its meaning wherever found in the Bible. 

At the close of our discourse we gave nine readings. 
To one man we said : "Day before yesterday you were 
approached by a lady who was angry ; she reproached 
you because of your religious belief, and attacked it 
with seemingly perfect assurance that she would be 
able to annihilate it. She sputtered and fumed, scolded 
and condemned, but you were the embodiment of com- 
placency. You seemed to enjoy it so well that it added 
to her fury, and she finally subsided for want of satis- 
faction, apparently feeling that her herculean effort 
was not appreciated." 

"The spirit who tells me this is. a lady." Here we 
described her and continuing said: "She was very 
weak at the time of passing away. You were holding 
her in your arms when her spirit left the body. She is 
often with you and has wakened you from sleep by 
calling your name. We now see a barn ; it stands well 
back from the road. On approaching it we notice a 
gulf or ravine on the right hand side of it and you 
standing between the barn and an old straw stack. 



818 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

You arc only a boy at this time. There is trouble in 
the home and you are contemplating leaving it. A 
lady, your mother, comes to you and persuades you to 
remain at home." 

"Now, sir, we are in your hands and we ask you 
to tell this audience whether we are correct in our 
statements." The gentleman arose and said : "Every- 
thing is correct excepting the description of my 
mother. Your description of her is not correct." 

"Do you recognize the old barn, the ravine, etc., as 
we have described them?" 

"Yes, sir, the description is perfect." 

"Did you contemplate leaving home, as we stated?" 

"Yes, sir, that is correct. I remember the whole 
thing as though it were but yesterday." 

"Did your mother persuade you not to go?" 

"She did, but you did not describe her appearance 
correctly." 

"Are you sometimes awakened by a voice calling 
you ?" 

"I have been awakened in that manner." 

"Were you approached by a lady day before yester- 
day who angrily denounced you because of your non- 
belief in the Church, and who derided you for attend- 
ing these meeting's?" 

"I was, sir." 

"Do you recognize the fact that the lady we saw 
died in your arms?" 

"My mother died in my arms." 

"Are you a stranger to us?" 

"I am. I never spoke to you before." 

"Is the reading all correct?" 

"No sir, not all. You did not describe my mother 
correctly." 

"Is it all correct but that one thing?" 

"Yes sir, and it is remarkably so, but why did you 
make that mistake when you say my mother told you 
all you have told me ?" 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 219 

To this question we answered as follows : "We do 
not know, but think we mistook another spirit for the 
one who gave us the communication. This is some- 
times the case. These laws and forces are too subtle 
for us to grasp all the facts relating to them at once. 
We are very liable to err, and probably have made a 
mistake in this one point. However, we make no mis- 
take in this : We saw the lady we described, and we 
received the message as given." 

Turning to the audience we said: "We have given 
the gentleman at least seven positive tests which he 
declares are correct. Now, if we have made one mis- 
take and some skeptic wishes to reject the other seven 
facts because of the one mistake, it is his privilege to 
do so. One thing is certain : We can show how the 
one error chanced to occur, much easier than the 
skeptic can explain how we learned the seven facts 
which we have given and our stranger friend has veri- 
fied. There is but one true explanation, and that is that 
the spirit friends of the gentleman, who are acquainted 
with these facts, have given them to us." 

A gentleman, Mr. W., whom the audience selected 
for a reading, came forward and was seated in a chair 
facing the audience. After giving him several tests, 
we said : "We see you at the age of eleven years in 
the water with two other boys. One of the boys is 
taken with cramps and goes down. The other two 
boys rescue him and bring him to shore." Mr. W. 
said he did not recognize it, and we closed the meet- 
ing. Before leaving the hall Mr. W. came to me and 
said that the test was correct with one exception : "It 
was not I who caught the cramps and went down. Tt 
was my brother. My two brothers and I were in 
swimming and one of them," naming him, "was seized 
with cramps and went down. My other brother and I 
went to him, pulled him out and saved him. You 
described the creek all right, and I was eleven years 
old at the time, as you stated." 

I explained to him that he was mistaken about my 



880 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

saying that he was the one who had the cramps; that 
we said one of the boys was taken with the cramps, 
went down, and the other two boys rescued him and 
brought him to the shore. I also told him that I 
thought he had not dealt fairly with us; that he told 
the audience he did not recognize it when he did recog- 
nize it all but one point, and in that he was mistaken ; 
it left the people thinking that we rrad made a mistake 
when we had not; but that I was glad he came and 
told me, for now he, at least, knew that this good 
test was all correct. 

Mrs. Sprague gave a goodly number of private 
readings and treatments at Huntington, all of which 
added to the sum total of good work that we accom- 
plished there. We left these good people for other 
fields of labor feeling well satisfied with our success 
at Huntington. 

This society began its work with much enthusiasm 
and fine prospects. It held regular meetings with 
home talent, and employed at least one speaker — Hon. 
L. V. Moulton. In February, 1896, we were again 
called to serve them, giving eight more lectures on the 
Tuesday and Wednesday evenings of the month, and 
we found our new society struggling to sustain itself 
against a strong and united effort of the churches to 
destroy it. One Henry Silvers, whom we were told 
had never attended but two or three seances, gave in 
the Opera House a "FREE" exposition of the phe- 
nomena produced through the mediumship of Mr. 
Charles Barnes, who had been holding seances in 
Huntington. All of the town attended the simple 
slight of hand performance and those who had not 
attended the Barnes' seances thought it really was 
exposing Spiritualism. I cannot say from my own 
knowledge, but I have been informed that the churches 
after a hard fight succeeded in breaking up the society. 
We volunteered our services at the last two meetings 
to help the society, but it finally, after a hard struggle, 
"gave up the ghost." There were some good and loyal 
Spiritualists in Huntington who struggled to the bitter 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 221 

end, but the odds were against them and they failed. 
I consider that any Spiritualist who will pay his 
money, or lend his influence to assist the orthodox, or 
any other church that is using its influence and power 
to kill Spiritualism, is at least entitled to the sincere 
pity of every self-respecting person. I do not know of 
one single Spiritualist of Huntington who became a 
backslider after this affair, but I do know of a good 
many of the tried and true who afterwards came to 
Ft. Wayne, Rochester, Plymouth, Ind., Lima, Ohio, 
and other places to attend our meetings. "Once a 
Spiritualist always a Spiritualist," is a true saying. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Attacked but Not Vanquished by a Christian — Meet- 
ings and Seances at Cincinnati — By Invitation of 
the President We Deliver a Lecture on Spiritual- 
ism before the Students in the Meadville Theo- 
logical College at Meadville, Pa. — Rev. Covert 
the self-styled "Medium Slayer" at Pennville, Ind. 
— Bold Attack of a Methodist Minister who For- 
tifies Himself in the Stronghold of His Pulpit, but 
Dare Not Meet His Opponent in Defense of His 
Slanderous Utterances — Alex. Nichols' Beautiful 
Transition and the Spiritualist Services Field at 
the Home — Grove Meeting at Rustic Park, Mont- 
pelier, Ind. — A Remarkable Reading at Rochester, 
Ind.— A Threefold Test Which Brought to Light 
the Facts of "Grandpa" White's Death and Per- 
mitted the Settling of the Estate. 

Attacked by a Christian. 

Nov. 29, 1895, we were holding meetings in Muncie, 
Ind., and called on one of our friends, Mr. Thompson, 
at his store. A gentleman came in and at once en- 



322 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

gaged Mr. Thompson in a discussion on the subject of 
temperance and religion. Mr. Thompson had intro- 
duced me as a Spiritualist Minister and this Christian 
man becoming somewhat excited in his discussion 
suddenly turned to me and made a sneering remark 
about Spiritualism. This of course brought a reply 
from me and I entered into the discussion which 
wound up in a very few minutes as follows, as near 
as I could recall the language a half hour later when 
I made a note of the affair in my diary. 

Christian. — "You Spiritualists don't believe in God ; 
some of your people take his name in vain, and drink 
whiskey : and I know one who kept a saloon and sold 
whiskey." 

Spiritualist. — "I presume that is true. I have found 
several Christians in my travels that did the same 
thing. But you are a Christian, a temperance man and 
a republican, as I perceive from your argument with 
Mr. Thompson, and you condemn the saloon keeper 
for selling whiskey and despise the men who drink it. 
You go to your prayer meetings and ask God to do 
away with the awful curse of intemperance, then, sir, 
you go to the polls and vote to give the saloon keeper 
license to sell whiskey so the drinking man can buy it 
and ruin his health, his morals, and lose his soul. Are 
you not somewhat inconsistent in this matter?" 

Christian (defiantly). — "No sir, I am not." 

Spiritualist. — "I think you are sir. And, further- 
more, your minister gives intoxicating wine to the 
members of his congregation, and you sir, if you are 
a good orthodox Christian, patronize the wine-maker 
when you partake of the 'Holy Sacrament,' which is 
not a good example for a temperance man to place 
before the young. Am T not right, sir?" 

Christian.— "Well, b— b— but, but, ah— ah— ah— 
you — do do not understand?" 

Spiritualist — "Oh, yes I do. I understand perfectly 
my friend. Your Savior taught and practiced intem- 
perance. Why should you, his followers, object to 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 223 

others who are not Christians, as well as those of your 
own church, doing' as Paul ordered Timothy to do? 
He said: 'Drink no longer water, but use a little wine 
for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.' ' 
(See 1st Timothy v-23.) 

Christian. — "Our Savior did not teach intemper- 
ance, sir, and you ought to know better than to accuse 
him of such a thing." 

Spiritualist. — "Was it not upholding intemperance 
on his part when, in performing his first miracle, he 
turned ninety gallons and more of water into wine and 
then gave it to the revelers after they had 'well drunk?' 
as is recorded in the Scriptures that he did at the 
marriage feast in Cana of Galilee." (John ii-lst to 
11th.) 

Christian (angrily). — "Jesus did no such thing - , sir." 

Spiritualist. — "Wait a minute and I will show you. 
Wait, sir. we will read the Scriptures and let them 
decide the question." Just at this time Mr. Thompson 
handed me a Bible and we urged him to wait and hear 
the passage read, but he cried out : "No ! no ! it is no 
use ;" and our Christian friend disappeared through 
the doorway muttering something about those "hor- 
rible Spiritualists." 

Meetings and Seances in Cincinnati. 

On December 1, 1895, we began filling a one month 
engagement with the First Christian Society of Spirit- 
ualists of Cincinnati, Ohio. 

The subject of our discourse was: "The Phenom- 
ena of Spiritualism the Foundation of All Religions." 
Tt was well received, and following it came our usual 
seance. All persons to whom we gave readings wete 
entire strangers to us. 

First. To a lady, Mrs. Fowler, we said: "There is 
the spirit of a gentleman with you. Fie is a large 
man with light hair, blue eyes and brown beard. Fie 
gives me the name of William. He is your Uncle 
William. Your spirit sister is also here with you. She 



22 I A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

is a small lady and appears to me dressed in black. 
Her transition was caused by that dreadful disease 
tuberculosis of the lungs." We then gave a further 
description of the spirit, and the lady said she had a 
sister who died with consumption, and the description 
was correct. 

We then described the spirit of a young man who 
came to her and said he was led into unfortunate con- 
ditions in this life which were very detrimental to his 
welfare and finally caused his death, which occurred 
but a short time before. The lady verified our state- 
ments, declaring that they were all correct. 

Second. To a gentleman we said : "There is a 
man standing by you who is clothed in a soldier's 
uniform. He appears as in the act of playing a fife." 
We described him fully and the gentleman recognized 
the spirit. 

We then said : "There is the spirit of a little boy 
with you who passed away at the age of twelve years." 
We described him and said : "He is your son." "That 
is the description of a son I lost many years ago," 
said he, "and he died when he was twelve years old. 
That, too, is correct." 

Third. To a lady we said : "Two spirits come to 
you. One is a little girl whose name is Alice, the 
other is Billy Brown, a stout man who smoked a pipe 
when in earth life." The lady did not recognize these 
spirits. There were eight other persons who arose for 
a reading at the same time that this lady did and we 
may have unconsciously become enrapport with some 
one of them instead of this lady ; or she might call to 
mind later who they were, as is so often the case. 
However, it now stands recorded as a failure. 

Fourth. We said: "I hear the name of William 
Morris. No! it is Norris ; William Norris. This spirit 
brings an influence which would cause me to personate 
and fall if I would give way to his control. His neck 
is drawn around to one side and he sufTered greatly 
before passing to spirit life. He is crying out to me 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 225 

now, saying: 'O God! let me come, let me come." " A 
lady arose and said: "I recognize that man. The 
name is right and his death was caused by cramps in 
his neck and shoulders as you have described.'' 

Continuing we said : "Madam, there is a spirit gen- 
tleman with you who has not been in spirit life long. 
He loved you dearly and his passing away left a dark 
shadow over your life. A little girl also comes to 
you and calls you Mamma." We described her and 
said : "She comes with grandma, your mother." We 
then described this mother and told how she used to 
sit by the window in the little rocking chair and was 
always knitting. All of this was recognized, and con- 
tinuing we said : "We hear the name of Charles. We 
see you in a room sitting on the couch looking at the 
picture of a man which is hanging in a frame across 
the room. Your eyes are filled with tears and you 
cry out : 'Alone ! alone ! O dear ! I am so lonely.' 
Then a strange feeling comes over you ; you have a 
vision. You see the spirit of this loved one and many 
others who were around you. That vision is what 
brought you here. This spirit tells me that you have 
been promised something and he says you shall have it. 
The promise will be fulfilled." 

We then inquired if she recognized the five spirits, 
and if she could verify all of our statements. The 
lady said : "Yes, sir, I recognize them all and all you 
have told me is true. I thank you very much." 

Fifth. To a lady we said : "You have laid away the 
precious forms of four of your darlings. I see you 
when you are in great distress of mind. You are en- 
tering a room with another lady where there is a 
casket. You two ladies approach it together, weep- 
ing. The lady with you appears to be much the larger 
of the two and is your sister. She loses self-control 
and cries and sobs in great distress, while you with 
arm around her try to sustain and comfort her. It 
is a great struggle for you because your own poor 
heart is nearly breaking. Your mother has gone to 



826 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

live with the angels and yon and your sister are look- 
ing upon the beloved face that mother used to wear. 
That mother, now an angel, comes here and shows us 
this vision and tells us this to-day ; bringing it as proof 
of her presence and a reminder of the fact that she 
can see you ; that she was present at the scene men- 
tioned, and that her love is undying. Madam, can 
you verify our statements?" "Yes indeed," said she. 
"It is all true, perfectly true, and I am so thankful for 
this message from mother." And the people were 
visibly affected by this touching message. 

Sixth. To a gentleman we said : "Seven years ago 
last August you entered into a business transaction 
which caused you much trouble. Others were in- 
volved with you. Matters were finally adjusted, and 
later there came a change which made it better for 
you. Since that time business has run smoothly and 
you have been successful. You have been a very active 
man all your life. You can do much more work now 
than you could seven years ago because your health 
is better, and you have learned to handle your business 
better. Is this true sir?" "It is all true," said he. 

Seventh. To a lady we said : "You are very 
mediumistic and you ought to arrange for your de- 
velopment. We see the name of Jennie written over 
your head, and we hear the name of Al., Uncle Al., 
spoken as well as that of Grandpa David, who has 
seven letters in his last name. Your mother comes to 
you also. She passed away with a condition which 
makes me dizzy as she brings it upon me." The lady 
recognized these spirits and the statements made. 

Eighth. To a gentleman : "At the age of forty-one 
yon laid away a treasure, and I see the grave. I see 
you as a boy on a farm. Your father, now a spirit, is 
here, and he shows me a new farm partly cleared to 
which you moved. I hear trees falling; the farm is 
being cleared and yon are helping in the work. At 
twenty-seven years of age you started out with great 
determination to accomplish something for yourself. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 227 

The vision changes. We see a horse and buggy stand- 
ing in front of a house in the country. Hogs appear 
on the scene and the horse becomes frightened, breaks 
loose, runs away and smashes the buggy. You are 
running after the horse. This happened when you 
were sixteen years of age. What say you to it all?" 

His reply follows : "At the age of forty-one I did 
lay away the dearest friend I had on earth. I was 
raised on a farm. Our farm was new and clearing- 
was done on it, but I never helped to clear it. I went 
into business myself before I was twenty-seven years 
old. I do not recall the incident of the horse running 
away." 

To this candid statement we replied : "Our tests in 
the main are correct. Your spirit father has given us 
what we have given to you, and we have given it as 
we understand it. We did not say that you first en- 
tered business for yourself at twenty-seven years of 
age. We said that you then started out with the de- 
termination to accomplish something for yourself, 
meaning that you put more energy and determination 
into your business at that time. We now say that 
you had accumulated but little prior to that time, but 
that you then commenced in earnest putting your 
whole energies into business and that you were suc- 
cessful from that time." "That is all right," said he. 
The incident of the horse running away may or may 
not be true. He simply could not recall it. We evi- 
dently made a mistake in regard to his helping to clear 
the land, which mistake can be easily explained. All 
of the other statements were verified as correct. 

Ninth. To an elderly gentleman, who was selected 
by the audience for a reading and who came to the 
rostrum and took a chair, we said : "You are very 
positive ; have marked characteristics and strong indi- 
viduality. Your great perseverance has won for you 
what the world calls success. You were never very 
reverential toward things the world calls sacred." 
(Laughter.) "You were never satisfied with the 



228 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

church and its teachings. You are strong in your 
convictions and extreme in your likes and dislikes. 
When a young man you were bitterly opposed to old 
theology, and you delight in opposing the ministers 
still. Only last week you had a short discussion with 
a minister which terminated rather abruptly because 
he could not answer your questions. I see you a long 
distance from here." (Date given but not taken 
down.) "You were in business and a partner came 
near ruining you financially. Your spirit mother who 
was a Christian tells us this and that as a boy, you 
were the pride of her life and the joy of the house- 
hold. You may now tell the audience whether these 
statements are correct or not." 

Gentleman speaking deliberately: "Everything you 
have said is true, but I don't- see how you do it. I 
never saw you before." 

Replying we said: "Your spirit mother has told us 
all of this and she knows all about her son, though 
she is counted among the dead." 

This closed the seance, and after counting the tests 
herein recorded we find that about one hundred posi- 
tive statements were made by us, each one of which is 
a test and was verified by the strangers who received 
them. Besides these, many more tests were given in the 
descriptions that we gave of the spirits which we have 
not recorded. Of all the tests given in this seance 
there were less than a half dozen that were not veri- 
fied. Thus the evidence is about ninety-five per cent 
in favor of "A Future Life Demonstrated." 

"So come these silent unseen powers 
To guide, to warn, to bless and cheer; 
Their tender thoughts like fadeless flowers, 
Filling with sweets life's atmosphere." 

We Speak to Meadville Theological Students. 

On Jan. 30, 1896, by invitation of Prof. Cary, the 
president, I gave an address in the chapel of the 
Meadville Theological College (Unitarian) upon the 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 229 

subject of Modern Spiritualism, for the benefit of its 
students. There was a full attendance and close atten- 
tion was given to our discourse. Several of the town's 
people were present, among them Mrs. Huidekoper, 
the wife of the founder of the College ; Mrs. Maxwell, 
and others. 

We gave the students permission to ask questions 
at the close of the discourse and they came prepared. 
It appeared in evidence that they thought their ques- 
tions unanswerable. They were mostly question that 
nothing but Spiritualism can answer. Some of these 
novices seemed surprised and somewhat nonplussed 
at the readiness and ease with which their "Knotty" 
questions were answered. 

When the meeting was dismissed the students gath- 
ered around me, and after congratulating me asked 
many more questions. The members of the faculty 
expressed themselves well pleased and thanked us for 
our effort. We felt that perhaps we had left some 
thoughts with those who were preparing to be teach- 
ers that would bear fruit in years to come. 

Rev. Covert "The Medium Slayer." 

The following report of our work, published in the 
"Progressive Thinker," of February 22, 1896, may 
give the reader something of an idea of some of the 
various experiences with which our workers come in 
contact. 

"To the Editor: — We are back at Ft. Wayne again, 
after two months of hard work in Cincinnati, O., and 
Allegheny, Pa. We have held nineteen meetings in 
the past three weeks in the following places : Alle- 
gheny. Pa., Meadville, Pa., Pennville, P>albeck, Hunt- 
ington and Ft. Wayne, Ind. 

"We followed all of these lectures but two with 
tests, and Mrs. Sprague has given many private read- 
ings, and assisted occasionally in the public meetings. 
Thus we are teaching and demonstrating the truths of 
our divine philosophy to the hungry souls who are to 
be found everywhere. 



830 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

"Rev. Covert, of Anderson, Ind., who boastingly 
signs himself the 'Medium Slayer,' I believe is doing 
us much good. While we despise his methods, and 
believe he deserves to be granted a vacation, yet we 
are satisfied that his abuse of mediums and his tirades 
against Spiritualism counts for our side more than for 
the other. 

"The boasted 'Medium Slayer' had been in Pennville 
previous to our going there, having been employed, I 
am told, by the acting pastor of the Methodist church, 
and with his insults and foul slanders had created a 
terrible neighborhood quarrel, causing some of the peo- 
ple of the church to wish they had never seen this 
unfortunate man. The Spiritualists greeted us most 
cordially. They had secured the Opera House and it 
was packed. Every seat was taken, and many were 
obliged to stand during the long service of two hours. 
Many church people were present, and from the strict 
attention and applause it was plain to see that they 
were interested, and that both the lecture and the tests 
were highly appreciated. 

"The Spiritualists were jubilant, and are still re- 
joicing at the victory they have won over old dogmatic 
theology and some of its advocates who are now re- 
sorting to such disreputable methods to save it from 
going to pieces. 

"O ye boasted 'Medium Slayers' who claim to be the 
followers of the meek and lowly medium Jesus ; put 
our mediums in prison; make it a crime to be a Spirit- 
ualist; tear from our mothers, our daughters and our 
sisters their fair names; blacken the name and defame 
the character of every earnest, true soul that dares 
advocate or believe in the glorious truths of Spiritual- 
ism ; poison the pure air of heaven with your malicious 
and foul invectives ; pour out your slanderous false- 
hoods upon the defenseless women and children of 
our land if you must, but our cause will live and thrive 
in spite of you, for the angels have come to answer the 
agonized prayers of the millions who look upon death 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 231 

and cry to heaven : 'Where, Oh where, have my dar- 
lings gone?' 

''We are happy in the glorious work. Long live the 
grand old Progressive Thinker and its founder." 

(Signed E. W. S.) 

Attacked by a Methodist Minister. 

We were told that the trouble caused by Rev. Covert 
coming to Pennville to destroy Spiritualism came near 
breaking up the Methodist society. Between the time 
of his going there and the time of our going, the 
minister in charge left for other fields and the Rev. 
W. E. Grose was installed in his place to minister to 
the spiritual needs of the remaining church members. 

Report said that when the new minister came he 
made the statement that he should say nothing against 
Spirtualism or any other religion but simply preach 
Jesus, and him crucified. He undoubtedly intended 
to do what he could to "pour oil on the troubled wa- 
ters/' but when we arrived and the people left off 
attending the Methodist church and throngs came to 
listen to the teachings of Spiritualism, this gentleman's 
ire was evidently aroused, and he thought something 
must be done. In order not to break his agreement 
not to preach against Spiritualism, he anounced that 
he would preach on the subject of "Infidels." 

The Spiritualists sent a reporter to take his ser- 
mon. The report showed plainly that he used the term 
"Infidel" with which to whip the Spiritualists. Among 
other very uncomplimentary things he is reported as 
saying are the following: "There is a society in 
Pennville which has imported a platform speaker to 
lie about the Bible." "When we get God in the con- 
stitution we will have them." Of course this reference 
was to the Spirtualist society and to me as its speaker. 

The next morning we sent a challenge to the Rev. 
W. E. Grose inviting him to meet us in open debate. 
This challenge was published in the "Pennville Ga- 
zette" of May 20, 1896, and read as follows : 



232 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

"To the Rev. W. E. Grose., Pastor of the M. E. 

Church, Pennville, Ind. : 

"Dear Sir — Having- been informed that in your ser- 
mon Sunday evening last you made an attack upon 
'Infidels' and said: 'There is a society in Pennville 
which has imported a platform speaker to lie about the 
Bible,' and believing that your reference was to the 
Spiritualist Society of this place, and myself in par- 
ticular, I therefore make this proposition : I will meet 
you in open debate and discuss the following ques- 
tions : 

"1st. Are the teachings of modern Christianity su- 
perior to the teachings of Modern Spiritualism? You 
affirm and I deny. 

"2nd. Does the Christian Bible teach Spiritualism? 
I affirm and you deny. 

"3rd. There shall be two meetings. The speeches 
shall last half an hour each, alternating, and the one 
affirming shall open the debate and the one denying 
shall close it. Each debate shall last two hours. Each 
disputant shall have a chairman, and the two chairmen 
shall select an umpire. 

"Should you accept this proposition, arrangements 
can be made with the officers of the Pennville Spirit- 
ualist Society and mvself. Yours truly, 

"E. W. Sprague." 

Rev. Grose did not respond to the challenge ; he 
was as silent as the grave thereafter. We never heard 
of his preaching against "Infidels" or Spiritualists, or 
saying one word about them after that time, while our 
work continued successfully. Spiritualism grows if the 
preachers let it alone, but if they attack it, it usually 
grows the faster. The reason for this is because it is 
the truth. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth 
shall make you free." (John viii-32). We have been 
attacked by Christian ministers of various denomina- 
tions who seemed to think it their religious duty to 
destrov the influence of our work in their communities, 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 233 

but their efforts usually proved a great benefit to our 
cause. 

Alex. Nichols' Beautiful Transition. 

A short time before his transition, Alexander Nich- 
ols, of Ft. Wayne, Ind., sent me an invitation to visit 
him. I went to see him, and though we were strangers 
the visit did us both good. He was stricken with "the 
great white plague," tuberculosis, and it was an effort 
for him to talk. 

After explaining that he had sent for me because he 
wanted me to officiate at his funeral, he told me that 
he was a Spiritualist, that he had studied hard to get 
an education, that he was a medium, and had hoped 
to become a public worker in the good cause of Spirit- 
ualism. He asked me to tell the people at his funeral 
that he was a Spiritualist, that he saw and conversed 
with the spirit friends daily, and that they came to 
his bedside when he was suffering pain and ministered 
to him, relieving his distress. He said his spirit brother 
was with him often and had told him he would have 
to pass over ; that the conditions were such that they 
could not overcome them ; that the good spirits encour- 
aged him by telling him that there was a still wider 
field in the spirit world in which he would find oppor- 
tunity to work for the cause of Spiritualism, etc. 

He said that his brother William, who had passed 
away seven or eight months before, was one of his 
spirit helpers and was with him almost constantly, 
doing all he could to help him Jo bear his affliction. 
He was particular in instructing me to tell his friends, 
who would be at the funeral, all about this that they 
might know why he was a Spiritualist. 

This dear young man, bright, intelligent, cultured 
and spiritual, talked of his passing away and of his 
prospects in the future, with the confidence and un- 
concern of one who has the knowledge of what he is 
to meet. This is one of the blessings of being a 
medium and knowing for one's self. I felt that all the 



83 I A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

people of the world needed to witness what I was 
witnessing; and I especially felt that they who fear 
deiith, oppose Spiritualism and condemn mediumship, 
should have been privileged to hear this dear young 
Englishman as he talked to me of his fast approaching 
transition. 

After promising to fulfill his wishes and officiate 
at his transition services, if I was in that vicinity, and 
it was in my power to do so, I bade him good bye, 
never to see him in the physical body again. I shall 
never forget the look of sweet, spiritual resignation 
that illuminated the faee of that dear young man when 
I clasped his hand. It was simply angelic. 

On the 27th day of February, 1896, he passed away, 
and on March 1st I was called to officiate at his fu- 
neral. On arriving at the Nichols home, Mrs. Nichols, 
Alexander's mother, told me that Alex, had selected 
his own pall bearers on the preceding Christmas day, 
and had made all of the other arrangements for the 
funeral himself. She also said that on the night be- 
fore he passed away he had "sinking spells," from 
which he would occasionally rally and ask if it was 
not near morning. Once he said : "Tomorrow, Willie 
is coming after me, mother." When morning came 
he rallied occasionally to say, "Why doesn't Willie 
come after me, mother," and "It is about time for 
Willie to come for me isn't it, mother?" He told his 
mother that he wanted her to sing while he was pass- 
ing away, and I believe she did so. Finally he told 
his mother of a little girl spirit that he saw, and said : 
"She says Willie has come for me mother." A mo- 
ment later he raised himself in bed and reaching up 
his hand exclaimed: "O Willie!" and turning to his 
mother said : "Willie has come for me mother. I 
am going now." Then kissing her and with his right 
hand in his earthly mother's hand and his left hand 
apparently in the hand of his heavenly brother, he fell 
back on his pillows and was soon gone. Beautiful 
death scene ! The "ministering spirits" were present 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 235 

to take dear Alex. home. What a blessing and com- 
fort to this dear mother and all of the other loved ones 
who experienced it ! Is not Spiritualism the true com- 
forter in time of sorrow ? This and many other similar 
experiences prove it is. 

Dr. A. J. Raush had charge of the services and 
made a few consoling remarks at the home, and also 
conducted the services at the grave. We gave the 
discourse and did our best to fulfill the requests of our 
arisen brother. 

Dr. and Mrs. Sweringen attended the funeral, and 
Mrs. Sweringen wrote a report of the services for the 
Spiritualist press. I will quote a few words from that 
report : "It was the privilege of the writer to see the 
young man's spirit enter the room, look at his body in 
the casket, examine the flowers which covered the 
casket, and then go to his father and mother who were 
near me and say: 'Father, mother, weep no more. 
I am not far away and now I am free.' ' : Further on 
in this report, in speaking of herself, the writer says : 
"From all the evidence I have read about and seen, 
backed by the knowledge, absolute knowledge, I have, 
I will die by Spiritualism instead of orthodoxy. I have 
had more real happiness, satisfaction and comfort since 
I came into the knowledge of this great truth than in 
all the years I formerly spent in the church." 

In this single experience of the transition of a Spirit- 
ualist and a medium we have the testimony in favor of 
Modern Spiritualism coming from the living, the dying 
and the "dead" so-called ; each testifying to its glorious 
truth. It all helps to make sure our claims of "A Fu- 
ture Life Demonstrated." 

Grove Meeting at Montpelier, Ind. 

At a Spiritualist grove meeting held at Rustic Park, 
Montpelier, Ind., we closed the afternoon services by 
giving readings to seven persons, every statement but 
two being verified at once. I will record but one of 
them. 



836 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Just before closing the meeting, at our request, a 
gentleman was selected by the audience to take the 
chair for a reading. I asked him to state whether he 
was a stranger to me or not and he replied by saying: 
"I never saw you before." 

1st statement. ''You have always been a hard-work- 
ing man." Ans. "Yes, I have." 

2nd. "Your father was a hard task-master. He 
overworked you when you were a boy, and was very 
exacting." Ans. "You could not have made a better 
guess sir." 

3rd. "He made you work out your full legal time 
until you were twenty-one years old?" Ans. "That's 
correct. 

4th. "When you became your own master you left 
home with only a little bundle hung on a stick and 
thrown over your shoulder. Ans. "That's true." 

5th. "That bundle and the clothes on your back 
constituted your only earthly possessions." Ans. 
"That's a fact too, but I don't know how you could 
know it. "We will explain later," said we. 

6th. "You have always been a man of regular hab- 
its, retiring and rising early." Ans. "Correct." 

7th. "You work nearly every working day of the 
year and have done so all of your life." Ans. "I 
have, sir." 

8th. "You have lived economically as well as lab- 
ored industriously all of your life saving every cent 
you now possess." Ans. "That is the truth." 

9th. "In 1863 you lost three hundred dollars of 
your hard earned money receiving not one cent or any 
benefit in return for it." Ans. "Correct again." 

10th. "It was the signing of your name to a paper 
that caused this loss." Ans. "Yes, it was." 

11th. "You have made three important changes in 
your life, each one of which affected you locally, so- 
cially and financially." Ans. "Right again." 

12th. "At the age of 23 years .you changed your 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 237 

location moving many miles to the west." Ans. "My 
first move." 

13th. "You were born on a farm." Ans. "I was." 

14th. ''Your whole life has been spent on a farm." 
Ans. "It has." 

15th. ''You are still living on a farm." Ans. "I 
am, sir." 

16th. "By industry and economy you have earned, 
saved and now possess a competency." Ans. "You 
are right again." 

17th. "You still continue to work as hard and 
faithful as a hired hand. This comes from the influ- 
ence of habit ; not from necessity." Ans. "Well, I 
guess that is all right, too." 

18th. "Your father has been many years in spirit 
life." Ans. "Yes, he has been dead a good while." 

19th. "He tells me that you are not a church mem- 
ber, and that you never did believe in the Christian 
religion." Ans. "Whether it is he that tells you or 
not, that is the truth." 

20th. "He also tells me that you are not a Spiritu- 
alist." Ans. "Well, he's right. I am no Spiritu- 
alist." 

"Now sir," said we, "you have stated that each one 
of the twenty tests we have given you in this reading 
are true. We promised you a short time ago that we 
would explain how we came in possession of so much 
information regarding you, and the facts we have 
given about your father. We are free to admit that 
we have been informed of these facts by one who is 
acquainted with them. Your father, whom the world 
calls dead, but whose spirit lives and is present today, 
has given us the facts that we have given to you." 

"Well," said he, "I don't know how you tell these 
things for I never saw you before. But I don't be- 
lieve in Spiritualism." 

The reader will please take notice of the fact that 
the gentleman to whom we gave this reading was not 



238 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

chosen by us, but was selected by the audience ; and 
that he stated that we were strangers to each other." 

"Wherefore we are compassed about with a great 
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight 
(doubt) and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and 
let us run with patience the race as set before us." 
(Hebrews xii-1.) 

Remarkable Tests at Rochester, Ind. 

Sunday, Nov. 15th, 1896, at Rochester, Ind., we gave 
the following reading and tests ; we said : "We hear 
the name of John Fish. It is repeated several times. 
If anyone recognizes the name we would be pleased if 
he would acknowledge it. A gentleman said he recog- 
nized the name. Immediately my vision was open. I 
saw a spirit, and he showed me a large old-fashioned 
pocketbook with a leather strap around it tucked 
through two loops, and after describing it, we said : 
"This pocketbook was well filled when it came into 
your hands. It is in your possession now, and this 
spirit who shows it to me does so that you may know 
who he is. He comes to thank you for what you have 
done for him. You have done much for him. What 
say you sir. Do you recognize it ?" 

The gentleman replied as follows: "Yes, sir, I do 
recognize it. My name is John Fish. I have just 
completed the settlement of an estate left by a gentle- 
man who died. The leather pocketbook you have de- 
scribed came into my possession well filled as you have 
stated. I have disbursed its contents among his legal 
heirs, and when I had completed the work of settling 
up the estate, I was presented with the pocketbook and 
now have it in my possession as you have stated." At 
the close of the meeting this gentleman came and 
thanked me for this test, and said it was a remarkable 
reading, and that he would very much like to hear 
from the spirit again, "for," said he, "I am convinced 
that he was here tonight. It is all so strange, marvel- 
ously strange." 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 231) 

This test led Air. Fish to study, investigate and 
finally accept Spiritualism as a truth. 

These things are marvelously strange to people who 
are not familiar with them. So are the ten thousand 
other things with which we are surrounded. The tel- 
egraph, telephone, wireless telegraphy, X-ray, phono- 
graph, etc., are marvelously strange discoveries to the 
novice, though when they are in constant use they cease 
to impress us so strongly as being marvelously strange. 
The world is progressing. The ark may have done 
well enough for Noah of old, but it would hardly do 
for a passenger boat for modern times. It would not 
look well lined up with our great warships or vessels 
of commerce of today. The discoveries of the last 
three-fourths of a century are many of them marvel- 
ously strange ; and the discovery of the fact that spirits 
can communicate through natural law to the people of 
earth is one of them. 

A Threefold Test. 

On the 9th day of August, 189G, while giving tests 
from the platform to a congregation of one thousand 
people at Vicksburg, (Mich.) Spiritualist Camp-meet- 
ing, I had the following experience : I was giving a 
message to a lady when a spirit interrupted me, say- 
ing : ''Tell them grandpa White is here." The spirit 
repeated the request, and turning to the audience said : 
''A spirit tells me to say that Grandpa White is here." 
We then saw and described the spirit and saw him go 
down the aisle and stand by Mrs. Jessie Powers. 
This lady we had met for the first time that morning. 
We said : f 'This spirit is your Grandpa White, and he 
brings you his love and blessing. He is much pleased 
because now he has accomplished his desire and has 
fulfilled your wishes." We gave many details regard- 
ing the characteristics, etc., of this man, and then 
passed on to others of the many who were anxiously 
hoping that their loved ones would come to them. 



240 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

The following extract from a letter dated March 
1 1, 1 i>( > ? . which I received from Rev. Jessie Powers, 
pastor of the Unitarian Church at Sioux City, Iowa, 
who is the husband of Mrs. Powers to whom we gave 
the test, tells the story and gives the sequel of this 
threefold test. 

The letter says : 'This Grandpa William White, 
had been lost to us for a good many years, and it be- 
came necessary to find some trace of him in order to 
settle up some property in New Jersey. When we met 
you that morning in Yicksburg you were a total stran- 
ger to us and no one there knew a thing about us, 
and much less about grandpa. You will remember 
that Dr. Mansfield came from Cleveland that morning 
a few minutes after I was introduced to you, and after 
talking with you a few minutes I slipped away and 
went and had a sitting with him. I wrote four ques- 
tions on tissue paper, rolled them up in little pellets and 
put them in my pocket and he has never seen them. 
I wrote one question to each of three persons whom I 
knew were dead, and one to this grandpa whom I did 
not know about. I fixed my own slates and laid 
them on the floor and put my feet on them and the 
writing came on them almost as soon as I laid them 
down. All of the questions were answered and the 
one from Grandpa White read as follows: T cannot 
tell you all I want to through this medium, but you 
will get more before you leave the grounds.' And 
more came through you after your lecture when you 
were giving your public tests. After you had read for 
a number you stopped in the midst of one and said 
that 'Grandpa White is here.' You gave a perfect 
description of him and described him as he went down 
the aisle and stopped by the side of Mrs. Powers. If 
you had given only his full name we should have said 
that it was a son of the same name who had died some 
years before in Philadelphia, but instead, you gave his 
pet name and described him. But still we had no evi- 
dence to settle the case in court, and that came to me 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 241 

after we had been back in Meadville in school for about 
two months. 

I had come home and we had eaten dinner when 
something seemed to tell me to put on my coat and go 
at once to the Court House and that there I would get 
the information I desired about grandpa. I obeyed 
although I did not know a soul there, nor even did I 
know that Court was in session. 

When I got there I found scores of men walking 
about in the corridors and as I walked along something- 
seemed to tell me again : 'There is the man.' I stopped 
him, told him what I wanted, and asked him if he had 
ever known a man by the name of William White. He 
hesitated a moment and said : 'Why., yes, I buried him 
about fifteen miles from here three years ago. This 
place we had never heard of before. This man proved 
to be the undertaker and had come up there for the day 
and had finished his business and was just starting for 
home. If I had been five minutes later I would have 
missed him. In two days he sent me written affidavits 
from his records as to the grandfather's death and also 
one from the doctor who attended him ; and with these 
affidavits we settled up the estate. The question is, 
what sent me to the Court House to meet a man I 
never heard of? What was it that directed my atten- 
tion to the stranger and said : 'There is the man,' 
selecting him from among scores of other men all of 
whom were strangers? It cannot be accounted for by 
mind-reading for that was out of the question." 

This triple test has some extraordinary facts to be 
considered. In the first place there was an estate to 
be settled, and it became necessary to prove that Will- 
iam White was dead before proceeding with its settle- 
ment. Xone of his relatives knew whether he was 
dead or alive; or where he lived if alive, or where he 
had lived if dead. Mr. and Mrs. Powers were very 
anxious to learn of the whereabouts of Grandpa White. 

The slate writing given through Dr. Mansfield, under 



£42 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

the strictest test conditions, showed that Grandpa 
White was in the spirit world. 

His coming- to us on the platform and interrupting 
the reading we were giving to a lady shows that the 
spirit was anxious to fulfill his statement written a 
few minutes before between two slates at Mr. Powers' 
sitting with Dr. Mansfield, which reads : "I cannot 
tell you all I want to through this medium, but you 
will get more before you leave the grounds." 

After writing this between the slates he came at 
once to us, before Mr. Powers had left the seance 
room and gave a communication to Mrs. Powers. 
This was a fulfillment of the promise made by the 
spirit in the writing between the slates. This was an- 
other link in the chain of evidence that Grandpa White 
had passed to spirit life. 

Then, months after, in another part of the country, 
hundreds of miles from Vicksburg, Mr. Powers was 
impressed to go, at a certain time (no other time 
would have secured the desired information as the 
only man who possessed it would have been gone if 
Mr. Powers had been five minutes later) , to the Court 
House, a place he never visited, not knowing that 
court was in session, or that he would find anyone 
there, and certainly not knowing that any man in that 
country knew anything about Grandpa White, or if 
any man did know about it Mr. Powers had no pos- 
sible way of knowing which man it was. 

When he arrived, there were scores of men walking 
around, going in and out, and the spirit said to Mr. 
Powers : "There is the man." What man did he 
mean ? Why, the man who knows that William White 
had passed away, and that can give you the informa- 
tion that will permit the settlement of the estate. This 
was the crowning act of the spirit in his effort to 
assist his mortal friends to accomplish a much desired 
object, as well as to prove that his spirit survived the 
tragedy of the grave. Three mediums were used to 
bring this knowledge from the spirit world, viz.: Dr. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 24:3 

W. F. Mansfield, Rev. Jessie Powers and E. \Y. 

Sprague. Who knows of the mighty effort put forth 
by the spirit of William White in leading Mr. and 
Mrs. Powers to find the facts of his death and the 
proof thereof? 

Strange as this will appear to the novice the results 
prove it true, and it becomes one more of the innum- 
erable facts and experiences that demonstrate a future 
life for our race. 

"For thou bringest certain strange things to our 
ears ; we would know therefore what these things 
mean." (Acts xvii, 20.) 

Modern Spiritualism explains what these things 
mean. It gives the only explanation that does explain. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Evidence of a Future Life Given at Different Times 
and in Various places, etc. — Good Tests at Cin- 
cinnati — A Jilted Lover — Remarkable Reading at 
Huntington, Ind. — Widow of General Tom 
Thumb Receives a Message — Minister Asks for 
a Reading — Reading Given to the Commander-in- 
Chief of the Union Veteran League of America — 
Fine Tests at Balbeck, Ind. — Work in New York 
City — Meetings in Philadelphia, Pa. — Our Work 
in Organizing the New York State Spiritualist 
Association — An Lnpleasant Experience with a 
Minister of the Gospel — Another Beautiful Spirit 
Message Given at Rochester, Ind. 

Tests at Cincinnati. 

On Dec. 22, 1895, at Cincinnati, Ohio, we gave the 
following reading: To Mr. S., of Lawrenceburg, 
Ind., a respected citizen of that place, having filled sev- 
eral important official positions of the county in which 



244 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

he resides, we gave the following: "Your spirit 
mother is with you — (describing her). She tells me 
that in the year 1872 you were in a very peculiar con- 
dition financially. Three persons had it in their power 
to ruin you. Two of them proved to be your friends, 
and saved you from financial ruin, though one proved 
to be unfaithful. After you had passed the crisis he 
tried to get into your good graces again, but you have 
held him at a distance. This financial difficulty and 
its trials lasted from 1872 to 1875." 

"You are a medium and a peculiar one. The stand 
will move for you and little snappings or concussions 
occur in the air when you are sitting in the seances. 
You are making the best conditions possible under the 
circumstances, and sitting in your own home for de- 
velopment. But there is a little woman that gets very 
tired of the sittings. What say you, sir. Are we cor- 
rect in our statements?" 

Rising, the gentleman said : "I am a total stranger 
to you, sir, as I am to all of the people in this hall. I 
live at Lawrenceburg, Ind. All that you have told 
me is gospel truth. I lost eleven thousand dollars in 
the financial affair of which you speak. The reading 
is correct." 

After the meeting he came forward and introducing 
his daughter said : "This is the little woman you men- 
tioned who gets so tired of sitting in the circles. She 
is leading me into Spiritualism. I know there is some 
thing in it. You have given me something to think 
of tonight." 

Spiritualists who are isolated, become starved for 
this bread of life. Mr. August Schaffer, of Marys- 
ville, Ky., came sixty-four miles to attend our meet- 
ings. He came twice, and said he was well paid for 
coming. 

A Jilted Lover. 

While giving tests at Allegheny, Pa., on the even- 
ing of Jan. 12, 1896, after giving five readings we 
closed with the following to a lady whom we had 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 245 

given a reading, and who in acknowledging it said : 
"I understand it all excepting the trouble I had when 
I was seventeen years of age. I cannot recall that." 
"Well, madam, will you consent for us to explain here 
just what that trouble was?" we asked. "If you think 
best I will," said she. We then said: "It was a long- 
time ago, and I don't think you will object, so I will 
tell it all. At that time there was a young gentleman 
with dark hair and eyes, tall, slight in form, affiable in 
manner, of whom you thought a great deal until he 
jilted you. You know the rest, and we will not ask 
you to state whether we have given the true cause of 
your trouble at the age of seventeen. You may do as 
you see fit, reply or not." "I prefer to reply," said 
she. "You have described the young man perfectly, 
and have made but one mistake, but that is a serious 
one. The jilting was on the other side. It was not 
he that jilted me, but I who jilted him." This 
brought forth applause from the audience, and we 
said: "We have faithfully delivered the message of 
this young man in spirit life, and we will not attempt 
to decide the case here, but will leave it to be settled 
between the lady and the spirit. Mid laughter and 
applause the meeting closed. 

Tests at Huntington, Indiana. 

On Feb. 8, 1896, while giving tests and messages 
at Huntington, Ind., a large man arose and asked for 
a reading. We responded by saying: "The years 
1861, 1863 and 1865 were trying times in your life, 
sir. You came near losing your life on several occa- 
sions. You were in the hottest and thickest of a po- 
litical fight and were at times in great bodily danger. 
There was a conspiracy in which you were implicated 
and both factions were desperate. Plans were laid to 
take your life because of your political opinions and 
actions. You escaped with your life, but it was a 
hair's-breadth escape." "That is true, sir," said the 
big man. 



246 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

"In 1865 you began the work of retrieving your 
financial losses. (Date given but not recorded in my 
diary). "You lost considerable money by signing 
your name to a certain document." "You are right 
again," said he. ''Twenty years after this trouble you 
again entered the political arena, and with marked 
success." "That is also true," said he. 

We subsequently learned this man's name, and were 
told something of the history of the time and experi- 
ences of which we had told this stranger. Our in- 
formants said that when the War of the Rebellion 
began, this man was living in Indiana ; that he was a 
great politician ; that his sympathies were with the 
Confederacy ; that his northern brethren tried to hang 
him, and at the close of the war there was other trou- 
ble in the matter. 

It is plain that our spirit friend Wilson was ac- 
quainted with these facts, as his statements through 
my mediumship were all verified by the gentleman 
whose life we were reading. 

General Tom Thumb Communicates. 

While holding meetings at Fort Wayne, Ind., on 
March 8, 1896, we were honored by the presence of 
Mrs. Tom Thumb — Magri, her husband and their 
troupe, in our meeting, and I was led to give the little 
lady a message from General Tom Thumb, her spirit 
husband, which she received with apparent pleasure 
and appreciation, verifying the tests it contained. It 
was given in verse and several said it was beautiful. 
At the close of the meeting, the little lady with her 
husband and friends came forward to meet us, when 
we learned that she and her former husband General 
Tom Thumb had been Spiritualists for years. We 
had a few minutes very pleasant chat with this little 
woman and her companions. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 247 

Minister Asks For a Reading. 

At the above mentioned meeting a man whom we 
subsequently learned was a retired minister, arose and 
asked for a reading. The result of his request fol- 
lows : 

''Spiritualist — "You were born of parents from 
across the water." 

Minister — Yes, but you could tell that by my 
looks." 

Spir. — "At nineteen years of age you began prepar- 
ation for your life work and for five years your com- 
pensation was very small. You have been a great stu- 
dent all through life." 

Min. — "I never worked in my life." 

Spir. — "We did not say that you had labored with 
your hands, sir, but that you were a student." 

Min. — "I never did any work in my life." 

Spir. — "You are a minister of the Christian Church 
and your first call to preach did not prove pleasant or 
successful. You could not keep harmony with the lit- 
tle congregation so had to give up the position." 

Min. — "Anybody could tell that by my personal ap- 
pearance." 

Spir. — "The spirit friends tell me that you are a 
Lutheran minister. Could we tell that by your per- 
sonal appearance?" 

Min. — "I suppose a good reader of human nature 
could get that from my personal appearance." 

Spir. — "Well, then, if that is the case, your personal 
appearance tells me that you inherited your mother's 
disposition and your father's stature ; that your mother 
was very anxious to make a minister of you ; that you 
started out to learn the preacher's trade without a dol- 
lar ; that you were five years in completing your edu- 
cation ; that your first call to preach failed because you 
could not keep harmony with your congregation. Your 
personal appearance must be giving you away my 
friend, (Laughter) if it has all of these facts 
stamped upon it. However, that is not the source of 



848 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

my information. Your spirit mother to whom yon 
were always truthful in her earthly life is our inform- 
ant. You are now in her presence. Tell the truth ; 
are these statements that we have made, facts?" 

The minister with apparent embarrassment, nodded 
assent, and with a grunt resumed his seat. What a 
grand ( ?) welcome this "holy man" gave to his re- 
turning angel mother ! We do not blame him. His 
ignorance is the cause of his actions. Though his life 
work was dealing with spiritual problems, he displayed 
the densest ignorance of spiritual things. 

Commander-in-Chief of U. V. L. of America Gets 
Reading. 

At Lima, Ohio, April 19, 1896, a stranger arose and 
asked for a reading, saying: "I am a Republican." 
(Laughter.) The gentleman preceding him had as 
emphatically pronounced himself a Democrat. 

We said : ''This gentleman has partaken more of 
the mother than of the father. He resembles his 
mother in every particular excepting the shape of his 
forehead, which is like his father's. In disposition 
and temperament he is a counterpart of his mother. 

"He makes friends wherever he goes, and he goes 
all over the country. We see his friends gathered in 
groups, companies, or societies. He has many strings 
on which to pull. He is driving a many horse team, 
so to speak, but has the reins well in hand and the 
team well under control. He has business with many 
people in different parts of the country. He is a man 
of great resources. His business requires his entire 
time because he has so much of it. On retiring at 
night he has a habit of going over his business thor- 
oughly — in his mind — and cannot sleep until he has 
decided in detail what to do with every affair. He re- 
ceives many telegraph and telephone messages. 

"We inquired if the gentleman could verify our 
statements, and he said he could ; that he was the com- 
mander-in-chief of the Union Veteran League of the 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 249 

United States of America, and the business with many 
people, of which we had spoken, was the business of 
the U. V. L. He said he was also in the oil business, 
having charge of a number of lines leading in differ- 
ent directions, which would fit our description of the 
many horse team. He verified all of our statements. 

Fine Tests at Balbeck, Indiana. 

On Friday, May 16, 1896, while holding meetings 
at West Grove Spiritualist Hall, near Balbeck, In- 
diana, when permission was given, a lady arose and 
said: "I would be pleased to have you tell me some- 
thing." We first described a spirit gentleman whom 
we saw with the lady, then told of her early life, 
giving incidents, etc., together with three dates ; then 
we said : "This spirit tells us also that four years 
ago the 17th day of last August he left you for his 
home in the spirit world. He is your husband and he 
passed away a long way from here. You are almost 
a wanderer at the present time, having no permanent 
home. What say you to the reading, madam?" 
Answer: "It is all correct with one exception. My 
husband passed away four years ago the 17th day of 
last September; not the 17th day of August as you 
stated." 

We replied that we must have misunderstood the 
spirit just as we misunderstand mortals, or mortals 
misunderstand each other at times. 

We then gave a description of a young man, heard 
the report of a pistol and felt a twinge of pain like 
that of a bullet passing through my body and said : 
''He was shot and lay unconscious for some time after. 
It was an accident. He calls you mother. Madam, 
have you a boy in spirit life that was shot? Tell the 
audience please. The lady sitting beside her answered 
saying: "It is my boy! he was shot as yon say, and 
this is my sister beside me." We gave three more 
descriptions and names, one of which was the arisen 
friend of the first lady for whom we read and the 



850 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

other two were for the other lady. The one to whom 
we gave the first reading was visiting the other lady, 
who was her sister and living in the neighborhood, 
and though they were both strangers to me, they veri- 
fied every statement we made to them excepting one 
name we had mentioned, and the error of one month 
in the date of the lady's husband passing away. 

Dear reader is this not good evidence that those 
who die still live and can return and communicate 
with loved ones left behind? We think it is, and on 
the tens of thousands of such proofs that we have had 
we base our more than hope, or faith, or belief. On 
such as these rests our knowledge of the life we arc 
all yet to live. 

Work in New York. 

We spent the month of October, 1896, in New 
York City, speaking in Columbia Hall, No. 127-129 
Columbia Avenue. 

On Sunday afternoon, October 13th, Mr. O. C. S., 
a well-known gentleman, to whom we had given a 
public reading that morning which he could not recall 
at the time, came to tell me that on reflection it had 
all come clear to him. The test as recorded in my 
diary reads as follows: "To Mr. O. C. S. (full name 
given), who was an entire stranger, we said: "Sir, 
we see you in the year 1876. You are in a public 
meeting in a large hall. It is a large gathering. After 
the meeting is over there is much excitement and 
enthusiasm, and suddenly you are upon the platform 
speaking to the people. I hear the words : 'Down in 
Texas,' and there is something said about 'printing.' 
T am now told that there is much printing. I see 
railroad cars. There is much travel, excursions, etc. 
Much more was given but was not recorded. 

Tn verifying the tests Mr. S. said : "It has all come 
to me now. The man you described was the speaker 
that was employed to publicly interest the people in a 
movement to establish excursions into Texas and en- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 251 

courage immigration. It occurred in 1876 as you 
said, and after the meeting, which was very enthusi- 
astic, I was called upon to take charge of the excur- 
sions. I was to become a sort of Information Bureau 
also. I took the platform and spoke to them as you 
stated. I was appointed to the position, got up excur- 
sions, caused to be printed many thousands of descrip- 
tive dodgers, circulars, etc., advertising the excursions, 
describing the country, its climate, great resources, 
etc. The test is remarkable and entirely correct." 



Meetings in Philadelphia, Pa. 

While serving the Philadelphia Spiritualist Society 
Feb. 1-1, 189T, Hon. Thomas M. Locke presiding, we 
gave two lectures. At the afternoon service there 
were 144 people present. Our subject: "Punishment, 
Temporal and Eternal." The lecture was well re- 
ceived, and Airs. Sprague followed as message med- 
ium. Her messages and tests were numerous, spirit- 
ual and comforting ; all but one statement were verified 
by those receiving them. 

At our evening meeting there were 250 people 
present. Our subject: "What Has the Christian 
Bible Done for Woman." The lecture appealed to 
the good judgment of our listeners and many truths 
regarding the unjust treatment of woman advocated 
by the Bible and practiced by the saints, patriarchs, 
and "men of God" in those ancient times were brought 
forth to the light. The lecture was freely applauded, 
and at the close of the meeting we received many con- 
gratulations and thanks for the fearless manner in 
which we handled those "sacred teachings. " 

I followed this lecture with tests and messages. 
Sixteen people received readings and we gave as many 
as eighty clear cut tests. We made only one mistake 
and that was recognized by a gentleman who was 
sitting directly behind the one to whom the test was 
given. We will record here but one of these readings. 

A fine looking young man of perhaps thirty years 



852 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

arose and said: "Mr. Sprague, I am an entire strang- 
er to you, will you read for me?" "Yes, sir," said 
we, "we will." "There is a beautiful spirit lady who 
eomes here to you." We described her in feature, 
form, size and complexion, gave her age and said: 
"She passed away recently leaving your household 
lonely and sad. She brings with her a little girl baby, 
sweet and pure. Both are dressed in white. The 
baby has a blue ribon around its waist and on its arms. 
These are your darlings — your wife and baby." 

I was then controlled and gave a beautiful and 
touching message from this dear spirit wife to her 
loving and bereaved husband. At its close the young 
man arose to acknowledge the reading. It was with 
evident emotion, and speaking with great effort that 
he said: "It is every word true. My wife, my baby" 
— and unable to say more he sank into his seat. 

This was a glorious demonstration of the blessings 
of spirit communion, and proof of a future life. It is 
such experiences as these that furnish the real com- 
pensation and encouragement to mediums for their 
hard fight, against mighty odds, for our blessed truth. 
God bless our spirit helpers who bring these love 
messages to sorrowing mortals. Heaven bless our 
mediums who stand between the two worlds, receiving 
both scoffs and blessings on this side of life, but bless- 
ings only from the Angel side, helping the seeker, and 
incidentally the scoffers. I shall go on until the call 
shall come to me to come up higher, God and angels 
helping me. 

Organizing the N. Y. S. S. A. 

I began work in New York State as Missionary of 
the National Spiritualists' Association on March 1, 
1897, with instructions to visit societies and localities 
where no societies existed providing there w r ere Spirit- 
ualists enough to warrant it, interesting them in the 
proposed State organization and encouraging them to 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 253 

send delegates to the State Convention to be held in 
Syracuse April 13, 14 and 15. 1897. 

We commenced this work in New York City, speak- 
ing for three societies in one day ; two of them agreed 
to send delegates to the State Convention ; the other 
one was favorable, but took no official action. 

We issued a circular letter and sent it over the 
state, which brought many calls for our work. We 
worked with might and main for the next six weeks, 
having splendid success. The result was that a large 
delegation from every part of the state met in Music 
Hall. Syracuse, N. Y.. on the date mentioned above 
and the Xew York State Spiritualist Association was 
organized. It has had a slow but healthy growth 
since that day, and at this time, Sept.. 1908, it is one 
of the strongest state associations among the twenty- 
two state associations chartered by the National Spirit- 
ualists' Association. Its success is to be attributed 
to the good management and persistent efforts of its 
officers and members, all of whom are loyal supporters 
of our cause and of the organization. Altogether we 
spent six months and two weeks in Xew York in this 
work, visiting every part of the state. It gives us 
great satisfaction to know of its success. 

An Unpleasant Experience With a Minister. 

During the month of September, 1897, while we 
were serving the Moravia, X. Y., Spiritualist Society, 
the Annual Reunion of the old soldiers of Cayuga 
County was held in that place. On Saturday evening, 
Sept. 11th. at the close of their meeting, one of the 
comrades. Rev. Miner, of Sempronious, X. Y., who 
had been appointed as a committee on speakers for a 
soldiers' picnic, which was to be held in a grove at 
Sempronious the following Wednesday, was telling 
in the presence of our friend, Mr. Brown, that he had 
been disappointed in getting a speaker and did not 
know where he was to find one. Mr. Brown told him 
that there was a public speaker in town who, he 



35 I A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

thought, he could get for that occasion; consequently 
Mr. Brown, Rev. Miner and Mr. Clark, the com- 
mander of Sempronious G. A. R. Post, came to see 
me, when Rev. Miner engaged me to fill the place. 
On Wednesday, Sept. 15th, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Jayne, 
Mrs. Sprague and I drove six miles to the soldiers' 
picnic. 

When we arrived on the grounds Rev. Miner did 
not come to receive us, though he was not twenty feet 
from the carriage when we alighted and stood looking 
at us. I knew something was wrong, and I thought 
it was the fact that he had learned that I was a Spirit- 
ualist. Mr. Brown urged me to go and speak to him, 
which I finally did. He was as cold as an iceberg and 
as silent as the Sphinx ; after the two words of greet- 
ing, and when the situation became unbearably 
awkward I walked away. 

After a little, Commander Clark came to me and 
introduced himself, though I had met him the evening 
that I was engaged. He told me he had one request 
to make, and it was, that I would not let politics enter 
into my speech ; saying that it was not allowed in the 
Post meetings as it would only create discussion, etc. 
I told him I was well aware of that fact, and assured 
him he need not feel disturbed on that score. I told 
him if he had any other suggestions to make I would 
like to have him feel perfectly free to make them. 
This pleased him and he said : "I hope you will not 
talk much on religion. I am a Baptist myself, but I 
don't care at all so far as I am concerned, but others 
might feel disturbed." I said : "You will not object 
to my telling the audience that I am a Spiritualist, as 
your minister, Mr. Miner, told the soldiers and friends 
at Moravia that he was a Baptist, and as the other 
speakers told them that they were Methodists, etc., 
will you?" 

"No sir, not in the least," said he. I then told him 
to have no fear for we would say nothing to injure 
the feelings of anyone. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 255 

It was plain to be seen that the fact that I was a 
Spiritualist had preceded me to the grounds, and that 
the people were thoroughly aroused and greatly wor- 
ried because the Rev. Air. Miner had engaged me. 
There must have been all kinds of trouble predicted 
in consequence, judging from the way some people 
gazed at me, and from the muffled conversations of 
the little groups of people here and there. The Rev. 
Air. Miner did not ask what was my religion when he 
engaged me, which he evidently looked upon as a 
fatal mistake on his part. 

Just as the meeting was called to order, the Rev. 
Air. Miner arose and in a very loud voice said: "If 
there is a clergyman in the audience I want to request 
him to come to the platform." None came. I felt 
certain that he wanted a clergyman to come and take 
part in the services so as to help undo any terrible 
thing that I might do. 

After Rev. Miner had opened the meeting with 
prayer, he took a seat near me, and I asked him if I 
could have a glass of water on the table while I was 
speaking. He made no reply. He heard my request, 
for I had to bend over the lap of a gentleman who 
sat between us and he leaned over, too, so as to hear 
me. He did not even notice me after I asked for the 
water. Later I asked the Commander for the water 
and my wish was immediately gratified. He was a 
gentleman. 

Rev. Air. Miner gave the welcoming address. It 
was a very commonplace address, with the exception 
that he indulged his perverse nature by giving full 
vent to his malignant hatred, spiteful insolence and 
malicious contempt for me, simply because I was a 
Spiritualist and he had made the awful mistake of 
employing me to speak at this soldiers' picnic. He 
explained to the comrades and the people that as a 
committee on speakers he had met with little success ; 
that good speakers were very scarce ; that Brother 
, whom he had hoped to secure could not 



856 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

come on account of other engagements ; and then 
said : 'There are plenty of speakers full of words and 
always ready to talk on all occasions, pushing- them- 
selves into prominence at every opportunity, but good 
speakers are all engaged." He said more along this 
line, but this is all that I was able to record as he 
said it. 

Following this address of welcome, which was cer- 
tainly an address of unwelcome to me, I was intro- 
duced by Commander Clark and gave the discourse of 
the day. I made no reference whatever to the rude 
and insulting manner in which this pretended follower 
and teacher of the doctrines of the "Meek and Lowly" 
Xazerene sought to insult me. I was determined that 
he should not insult me. For that one time, at least, 
I lived up to the modern maxim : "No one but a 
gentleman can insult me, and no gentleman will insult 
me. Therefore, I will not be insulted." I had done 
nothing to merit the terrible wrath of this reverend 
gentleman. It was on his part a powerful manifesta- 
tion of Christian ( ?) intolerance. My only crime, in 
the mind of this minister, was that of being a Spirit- 
ualist. 

At the close of my discourse Rev. Miner again took 
the platform. His first words were : "I endorse all 
the speaker has said." In illustrating a point in my 
discourse I had told of a soldier Phrenologist who 
became a moral wreck while in the War of the Rebel- 
lion, and for whom I had great sympathy, as he was 
a creature of the terrible influences of war. I had 
said something good about the women who staid at 
home and suffered during the terrible struggle, and 
incidentally threw in a few sentences in favor of 
woman suffrage. This minister of the gospel of 
brotherly love ( ?) referred to it in a sneering manner 
and turning around on the platform pointed his finger 
straight at me and said : "Either he, or the powers 
operating with him must have had a long hard 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. '. J -M 

struggle to have converted him to a belief in woman 
suffrage, judging from the looks of his head." 

These wilfully intended, though unprovoked insults 
were almost enough to arouse my righteous indigna- 
tion to a fighting pitch, but I kept as sweet and 
pleasant as summer sunshine. However, I turned to 
Commander Clark and asked if he would have any 
objections to my announcing the Spiritualist meetings 
I was then holding in Moravia. His answer w r as 
given almost in a tone of urgency. He said: "Not 
in the least, Mr. Sprague. You may announce them 
and welcome." When the speaker sat down I arose 
and told the audience that I was serving the Moravia 
Spiritualist Society Sundays and Wednesdays of that 
month, giving the name of the hall, with the hour of 
the meetings, and inviting those who felt interested 
to attend them, and closed by saying that it was a good 
plan to hear both sides of a question before deciding 
it. This announcement had its effect. As I sat down 
Rev. M. jumped to his feet, evidently in a rage, and 
shouted : "And I want to anounce that next Sunday 
morning and evening, at the church in Sempronius, / 
will preach the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus 
Christ/' These words were almost hissed and his 
manner would indicate his desire to annihilate me. 
The unkindly spirit displayed by this prejudiced man 
was deplorable. 

While sitting on the platform at the opening of the 
meeting, I felt that I was alone among strangers, and 
I was alone excepting the three friends that came with 
me who were sitting in the audience. There were 
about twenty of the war veterans on the large plat- 
form with me. Nearly all of the people were looking 
upon me with doubt or with suspicion, some no doubt 
fearing we might create inharmony and cause un- 
pleasantness in their meeting, and one at least re- 
garded me with absolute hatred. 

My feelings were indescribable. I sent out a silent 
prayer to my noble guides, Wilson and Payn, asking 



858 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

them to carry me through this trying ordeal. Mrs. 
Sprague told me later that I was as pale as death at 
this time. Soon the dear spirit friends responded to 
my call. I felt a calm though strong, positive sus- 
taining power coming over me and I lost all my feel- 
ings of nervousness. Mrs. Sprague said when I arose 
to speak I appeared as cool and self-possessed as 
though there was nothing unusual in my surroundings. 

Our message to those dear old veterans of that 
awful war was tender, sweet and spiritual. For a 
full hour we held that audience of five or six hundred 
people in perfect sympathy with us, and at the close 
of the lecture there was great applause. 

When the meeting adjourned the Commander of 
the visiting Moravia Post was the first to shake my 
hand and thank me for my "splendid discourse." Then 
one after another of those veterans of war shook my 
hand and cordially expressed their appreciation and 
thanks for our lecture. I think every veteran in the 
meeting did this excepting the reverend gentleman 
who engaged me to speak. 

When Commander Clark came to pay me for my 
services I told him I made no charge ; that I was glad 
to give my services to those who had given theirs to 
save my country in its time of need. He said he 
wished to pay me and finally placed a five dollar bill 
in my hand, saying: "We shall not feel pleased if 
you do not at least accept, that much. You have 
done good service today. That was a splendid dis- 
course." Taking my hand he again thanked me and 
as I entered the carriage for home T felt that our 
victory was complete. 

At Rochester, Indiana. 

Many times have we served the First Spiritualist 
Church of Rochester, Ind., and some of our best 
friends live there, among them the Bitters family, in 
whose home we have spent many happy days. They, 
like many, many of our good friends are true and loyal 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 259 

Spiritualists. We would love to write much about 
our many good and true friends throughout the land, 
and the temptation is to do so, but that is not the 
purpose of this book and I must postpone this pleasant 
task for another time which I trust will come in the 
near future. We have given multitudes of lecturers, 
messages and tests in Rochester in the last thirteen 
years. On Sunday, Nov. 1±, 1897, we held two meet- 
ings in the Rochester Spiritualist Church, that noble 
man and stalwart Spiritualist, Major Bitters, presid- 
ing. Dear soul! he has since passed on to join his 
loved ones in Summerland, though he is active still in 
the affairs of this life and the cause he loved so 
dearly. 

After the morning meeting Brother Bitters was pro- 
fuse in his praise of the lecture. Our tests and mes- 
sages were beautiful, convincing and comforting. I 
will record one of them here. 

To a Mrs. Johnson, from Peru, Ind., who came as 
she afterwards told me, on purpose to attend the 
meeting, a beautiful spirit daughter came and gave a 
communication which was touching in the extreme. 
She spoke of her papa, her husband her little babe. 
This dear girl had given her life of earth that her 
little babe might be born. Mrs. Johnson, her 
mother, was caring for the babe at the time. This 
communication brought great comfort to this sorrow- 
ing mother and she came to visit us in the afternoon, 
when she thanked me over and over for this beautiful 
message from her spirit daughter. We did not know 
Mrs. Johnson nor her daughter. We had no knowl- 
edge of the circumstances reported above until the 
spirit revealed them through my lips. 

Thus lovingly, tenderly the message is given 

To comfort, to bless and to teach us of heaven. 

Mrs. Sprague followed our evening lecture with 
many beautiful messages, which closed another day 
of "A feast of reason and a Mow of soul." 



260 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



Visit to Col. Kase, Lincoln a Spiritualist — Meetings 
at Malone, N. Y.— Brother E. W. Turner's Beau- 
tiful Transition — Test Willfully Denied Proves 
True — Christian Altruismf?) — At Death's Door, 
Spirit Prophecy Fulfilled. 

Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist. 

On Tuesday, April 12, 1898, Mrs. Sprague and I 
visited those well-known and loyal Spiritualists, Col. 
S. P. Kase and wife, of Philadelphia, Pa. The 
Colonel gave me an account of some of his experi- 
ences with our beloved martyred President Abraham 
Lincoln in the seance rooms with Miss Nettie May- 
nard, Mrs. Belle Miller and Mr. John Conklin, all 
three of whom were mediums. Col. Kase had pre- 
pared the manuscript for a book upon this subject and 
I spent two hours reading it and listening to him as 
he explained some of the incidents occurring at these 
seances. 

The following is taken from my diary : "Col. Kase 
visited Washington on business pertaining to a rail- 
road he was building, and as he was passing a certain 
house he saw the name of J. B. Conklin above the 
door. He had known Conklin two years before. 
While looking at the name a voice spoke to him out 
of the air, saying : 'Go see him ; he is in the same 
room you used to occupy.' This startled Mr. Kase ; 
he wondered where the voice came from, and who 
knew that he had occupied a room in that house. 
Eleven years had passed since that time, and while 
contemplating upon the strange phenomenon the 
words were repeated ; so he went up the stairs to the 
third story and when he passed into the room which 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 261 

he had occupied in 1850, Conklin was sitting there 
having just finished a letter to President Lincoln. He 
was enclosing it in an envelope, and handing it to Mr. 
Kase, he said : 'You are the man I want to see ; I 
want you to take this letter to President Lincoln, 
because you can see him and I cannot.' This was 
another surprise and Col. Kase told him he could not 
do it. Air. Conklin replied that he had been sent 
there for that purpose and urged him to take the 
letter. He was finally persuaded to do so, and Mr. 
Conklin went with. him. 

"On arriving at the White House the servant was 
told that S. P. Kase wished to see the President. He 
went with the message to Mr. Lincoln and on return- 
ing said that the President was eating dinner but 
would see him immediately after finishing his meal. 
In a short time the servant came again and Col. Kase 
was ushered into the presence of the President. Mr. 
Lincoln looked astonished and said he thought it was 
S. P. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury. After 
conversing together for a time Col. Kase presented 
Mr. Conklin's letter to Mr. Lincoln. This letter con- 
tained a request that Mr. Lincoln would see Mr. Conk- 
lin on matters of vital importance pertaining to the 
war with the South which was then in progress, and 
spoke of himself as a medium. After discussing the 
matter a little with Mr. Kase the President appointed 
a meeting for the following Sunday morning and it 
transpired that Mr. Conklin had a two hours' audience 
with Mr. Lincoln ; this was continued every Sunday 
morning for some time afterwards. Col. Kase also 
attended seances with President iLncoln. Among oth- 
ers, he has placed on record, are two seances that were 
held at the home of Mrs. Laurie, in Washington, D. 
C, in which he states that President Lincoln and wife, 
Judge Wattles and the two soldiers who usually ac- 
companied the president were present, and that mental 
and physical spirit manifestations of a remarkable 
character occurred. 



262 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Mr. Kase had the manuscript for a large book giv- 
ing the details of many seances held in Washington 
in which leading government officials, including Pres- 
ident Lincoln and his estimable wife, participated. 
Sometime after Col. Kase's transition, while I was in 
Philadelphia, I called upon his wife, and while there I 
made inquiry regarding Mr. Kase's proposed book. 
She brought out a pamphlet and said this was the book 
he had printed. On examination I discovered that it 
contained only a small part of what he had prepared 
for the book, and when I told her so, she said she did 
not know where the rest of the manuscript was ; that 
someone whom she named had taken charge of the 
household goods and perhaps he could tell about it. I 
concluded that it was lost, and am very sorry, as it 
contained much valuable data as well as corroborative 
testimony of the facts already published in regard to 
the claim that President Lincoln and his good wife 
were Spiritualists. It is well known to the public that 
Mrs. Lincoln was a Spiritualist, and in justice to our 
martyred president, and to modern Spiritualism for 
what it did in helping along the work of emancipation 
of the negro slaves, the world should know these facts : 

"Immediately after the election of the late lamented 
President Lincoln, an article appeared in the Cleveland 
Plaindealer which the timid feared and the antagon- 
istic hoped would greatly prejudice the cause of the 
popular Republican leader by associating his name 
with spiritualism. 

In the expectation that he would make a public de- 
nial to what some interested parties were pleased to 
consider 'a most injurious statement,' the article in 
question was submitted to the president, who quietly 
glanced over it and in answer to the earnest request 
that he would furnish a contradiction to the papers, re- 
plied : "The only falsehood in the statement is that 
the half of it has not been told. This article does not 
begin to tell the wonderful things I have witnessed." 
"Modern American Spiritualism," by Emma Hardinge. 
P. 301. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 263 

The reader may learn much about the matter by 
reading' the following named books : "Was Lincoln 
a Spiritualist?'' by Nettie Maynard. "Modern Ameri- 
can Spiritualism/' by Emma Hardinge-Brittain. "The 
Emancipation Proclamation ; How, and by Whom it 
Was Given to Abraham Lincoln," by Col. Simon P. 
Kase. 

I have in my possession records of interviews held 
by Hon. Edwin A. Doty, of Albany, N. Y., with a well 
known woman of Washington, D. C. A Mrs. Best, 
and General Daniel Sickles, both of whom attended 
seances with Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln in the White 
House. These interviews corroborate the statements 
of the above named authors, and are subscribed and 
sworn to before a notary public. 

Anyone wishing to satisfy himself as to whether 
Abraham Lincoln was a Spiritualist will do well to 
read the above named works upon the subject. How 
unjust it is to cover up such facts because of popular 
prejudice ! How foolish to quote the Bible passage 
which says : "The truth shall make you free," and 
then cover it up and hide it from the very ones to 
whom we teach such scripture ! Abraham Lincoln 
consulted with the spirits regarding the great conflict 
between the North and the South, and undoubtedly 
acted on their advice after using his own good judg- 
ment and weighing the matters and the advice care- 
fully, just as any other good Spiritualist would do. 

Meetings at Malone, N. Y. 

On February 18, 19 and 20, 1898, we held three 
meetings in the beautiful little city of Malone, N. Y. 
It is situated in the extreme northern part of the state 
near the Vermont state line, on the east, and the Can- 
adian line on the north. We gave three lectures here 
which were well received, and gave many tests from 
spirit life, all of which were recognized and verified as 
true. Mrs. Sprague also gave many private readings, 
and we organized a society chartering it with the N. 



26 1 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Y. State Spiritualist Association. The spirit friends 
did their work well, and we left the good Spiritualists 
of M alone feeling happy and hopeful. The following 
report of our meetings published in the Malone Farmer 
of Feb. 23, 1898, shows that our work was well re- 
ceived by the public. It reads as follows: 

"THE SPIRITUALISTIC MEETINGS." 

"The Spiritualistic meetings of Mr. and Mrs. E. W. 
Sprague at the Pangborn Post rooms, Saturday, Sun- 
day and Monday evenings, were attended by large au- 
diences and proved of considerable interest. Mr. 
Sprague is an inspirational speaker, and Mrs. Sprague 
is a clairvoyant medium of considerable power. Their 
object in coming to Malone was to organize a Spirit- 
ualist society under the auspices of the state society, by 
which they are sent out as missionaries. Mr. Sprague 
is a very fluent and forcible speaker when under the 
clairvoyant influence, and improvises excellent poetry 
readily on any subject sugested by anybody in the audi- 
ence. This he did at Saturday night's meeting with 
notable success. Mrs. Sprague looked into the lives 
of her hearers, and, though all were strangers to her, 
she was able to so describe events which had transpired 
in the past in the lives of some of her hearers as to 
make the facts recognizable to the persons described, 
who invariably answered that they recognized the de- 
scription when she asked if anybody understood it. 
All w r ho wished were given the opportunity of having 
their lives read by indicating such desire by rising. 
The tests given by both Mr. and Mrs. Sprague were 
certainly remarkable in many respects, by whatever 
mysterious agencies they were accomplished." 

Brother Turner's Beautiful Transition. 

On the Pith day of October, 1899, I was called to 
officiate at the funeral of Mr. E. W. Turner, of New- 
ton Falls, Ohio. Mr. Turner was for many years the 
president of The Mahoning Valley Spiritualist Asso- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 2G5 

ciation, an organization that was composed of the spir- 
itualists of one or two counties. He was also an offi- 
cer and organizer of the State Grange. He was a pub- 
lic speaker, a fine medium and had a host of friends. 
There was a large number of people present at the 
funeral, some of them coming many miles to pay their 
respects to this good friend whom they held in the 
highest regard. 

Mr. Turner's good wife told me that a few hours 
before he passed away he was controlled by different 
ones of his spirit guides ; that they told her they had 
done, all they could do for him, and that he would 
have to go. They gave her words of comfort and as- 
surance, promising that he should be near her and 
that he and they would come and talk to her whenever 
she made the conditions and gave them the oppor- 
tunity. 

Our dear spirit talked to her a long time encourag- 
ing and comforting her, telling of the glorious future 
that awaited her husband, and that it would be but a 
few short years until she too would join him in that 
happy land never more to be parted. Then he bade 
her good-bye, and another spirit who was one of his 
band of inspirers, came and added his loving words of 
comfort and helpfulness, closing with a long impro- 
vised poem which was full of sweet pathos, tender ref- 
erences to past experiences, and blessed foregleams of 
a happy future. 

With tearful eyes and sorrowing heart Mrs. Turner 
told me of this beautiful and sacred experience though 
her soul was filled with thankfulness for the encour- 
agement that was brought her in this hour of her 
greatest grief by this beautiful poetic spirit message. 
She said there was sadness manifested by his spirit 
helpers because they were losing a splendid and valu- 
able instrument through whom they had been en- 
abled to bring the glad tidings of Spiritualism to a 
needy world. This manifestation was indeed pathet- 
ically beautiful though sad ; it was comforting and in- 
spiring. 



266 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Kind reader, suppose for a moment that you were in 
dear Mrs. Turner's place, that your best beloved one 
had but a half dozen hours to live, and that your clear 
"dead" friends should come to you through that dying 
loved one and improvise poetry composed of sweet 
words of comfort and strength to help you bear your 
great grief' and sore trial, would you not think it beau- 
tiful? Beautiful indeed it is, and its blessing is above 
price. Dear Mrs. Turner was certainly favored by the 
angels, and her dying husband was strengthened for 
the transition he was about to make. Beautiful medi- 
umship ! beautiful and blessed Spiritualism ! thou are 
the sweetest gift of the Great Giver of all to the chil- 
dren of men. Thou hast transformed the "angel of 
death" into the angel of life. 

Test, Wilfully Denied, Proves True. 

On April 12, 1891, while Airs. Sprague was giving 
tests and messages at a meeting held in the opera house 
at Silver Lake, Indiana, she invited anyone who wished 
for a reading to rise in his seat. An elderly gentleman 
arose and she proceeded to read for him. After de- 
scribing his characteristics, and mentioning several oc- 
currences in his life, she said : "There are two spirits 
with you ; one is an elderly lady, (describing her), the 
other an elderly gentleman," (whom she described), 
and then said : "I see the name of William written over 
your head. It is given that you may identify the 
spirit. Do you recognize these spirits as your parents, 
sir?" "No, madam," said he, "I do not recognize any- 
thing you have said. It is not correct." "All right," 
replied Mrs. Sprague, "You may call it a failure, but 
the spirit tells me that I am correct." 

She passed on to others, giving many fine tests of 
spirit presence and at the close of the meeting a gen- 
tleman, whom I will call Mr. B., came to us and told 
us that the old gentleman who sat in the front seat 
who denied Mrs. Sprague's test was his father, and 
he came to tell her that every word she had told him 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 267 

was true, and that his father knew it was true. He 
said that the old lady who sat beside his father was 
his mother, and that she would tell Mrs. Sprague, if 
she asked her, that his father did not tell the truth. 
He further said that the name William that Mrs. 
Sprague saw over his father's head was the name of 
his spirit father, and her description of him and his 
spirit mother was as perfect as anyone knowing them 
could give. He added that he could explain his fath- 
er's action in the matter only by the fact that he was 
a radical Seventh-day Adventist and hated Spiritual- 
ism; that his prejudice must have caused him to mis- 
represent the facts. He said he did not think much of 
his father's religion anyway and the reason why he 
had told Mrs. Sprague was because he felt that it was 
only justice that she should know the facts in the case. 

This dear old Seventh-day Adventist must have been 
of the same stock of religious fanatics as St. Paul, who 
says : 'Tor if the truth of God hath more abounded 
through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also 
judged as a sinner." (Romans iii, 7.) 

Purejudice, bigotry and ignorance form a trinity of 
evil and often insultingly close the door of heaven in 
the face of the angels. But truth, justice and love the 
greatest trinity of all, is gradually taking the place of 
the former and ridding the world of their hateful pres- 
ence. The former is ephemeral, the latter is eternal. 

Christian Altruism (?) 

December 5th and 6th, 1901, while working in the 
missionary field, we were called to McClure, Ohio. 
Our friends, we were told, had made all arrangements 
for our coming and everything was in readiness for 
the work, when they were notified that they could not 
have the hall they had engaged. Inquiry brought out 
the fact that the Christians had called upon the owner 
of the hall and whatever they said to him we can sur- 
mise ; at any rate he refused to let us occupy the hall. 
The Spiritualists rented a second one, and with the 



268 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

same results. They were not yet entirely discouraged, 
and they bargained for the third one. It really seemed 
as if the "influences" had decreed that the Spiritualists 
should never hold a meeting in that town. When we 
arrived there we were told that if we were to have a 
meeting at all we would have to hold it in the home of 
a Spiritualist. We held one meeting and one seance 
in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Henry. The meeting 
was held the first evening after our arrival and crowds 
of people came. Whether the Altruistic (?) Chris- 
tians who threatened to boycott the merchant owners 
of the halls if they allowed the Spiritualistis to hold 
their meetings in them, were present, I am not able to 
say ; but one thing I do know, there were many in that 
crowd that were as much opposed to Spiritualism, and 
hated its advocates as much as did those who stayed 
away. 

The house in which we held the meeting was not 
very large, but it was packed with people to the doors, 
many not being able to get in. There was a strug- 
gling mass trying to gain an entrance, and mid their 
pushing, crowding and shouting, it became necessary 
to shut and lock the doors. It was evident that there 
was a crowd there that meant us no good. After the 
doors were locked there went up a great howl and 
there were other sounds on the outside of the house 
that indicated that they were whipping the house with 
poles, boards, etc. When the crowd had spent its fury, 
receiving no response from us, the clatter and howling 
finally ceased, and we held our meeting. 

The meeting was successful notwithstanding the 
great uproar at the beginning. Mrs. Sprague's tests 
and messages were excellent, and she succeeded in in- 
teresting two of our worst opponents who had worked 
their way into the house by giving each of them tests 
and messages. They were so much interested that 
one of them said if we would come back to McClure 
again we should have a hall for our meetings if he 
had to buy one for our use. The spirit messages and 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 269 

tests are a sure cure for Christian intolerance and 
bigotry, providing the Christian happens to have rea- 
soning powers or good common sense. We left Mc- 
Clure feeling sure that a few public meetings with lec- 
tures and tests would loose the scales from off the eyes 
of those who knew nothing about Spiritualism other 
than what they had read in a country newspaper. 

At Death's Door — Spirit Prophecy Fulfilled. 

Not having received permission from some of those 
who participated in the following trying experience, I 
have not used their real names. 

In the month of January, 1903, Mr. and Mrs. W. 
who were sojourning in a little town of V., received a 
telegram from their son-in-law of the City of R., a few 
miles distant, which stated that their daughter had 
given birth to a girl baby; that she was very low and 
they better come home. One hour later these sad- 
hearted and anxious parents were speeding away on 
a railway train for the home of their daughter. On 
arriving there they were told that their daughter was 
in a critical condition ; that she was having spasms. 
There were two physicians, a trained nurse and Mr. 
M. in the room with Mrs. M., but her parents were not 
allowed to see her. It was a gloomy household. The 
doctor's words gave little satisfaction or encourage- 
ment. 

An hour after her babe was born, Mrs. M. began 
having spasms. She came out of one spasm only to 
enter another, until she had passed through eight sev- 
ere ones. The doctors finally succeeded in placing her 
under the influence of chloroform. Mr. and Mrs. W. 
were suffering in suspense the mental agony that words 
cannot express, not knowing what moment they would 
rap on the door and tell them their daughter was pass- 
ing away, when, we being present, it was suggested 
that Mr. W. write a question asking the spirit friends 
about the case. Mr. W. did this at once. His ques- 
tion read as follows: "Mr. E. V. Wilson, Dear Spirit 



270 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Friend, will you tell us whether our daughter is going 
to live through this terrible sickness and get well? 
Will she live to care for her babe? Please tell us any- 
thing you can regarding the case. You know how we 
love her." 

Knowing what the question contained, I took it in 
my left hand, and with a pencil in my right, closed my 
eyes and in a moment the spirit began writing the an- 
swer which reads as follows : "Yes my beloved ones 
of earth, God bless you; I will do anything I can for 
you. Your daughter is in a precarious condition at 
present, but she will recover. Yes, she will get over 
her present trouble, and will be happy for many years, 
doing a great work for humanity. I say she is in a 
precarious condition. She must have the closest at- 
tention and the best of care. The presence of these 
mediums in the home (meaning Mrs. Sprague and my- 
self) is the lever fulcrum upon which hinges the whole 
question of her recovery. She is very, very sick, but 
will have no more spasms. She will awaken from her 
present sleep bewildered, and in a condition like that 
of dreams. Her mind will not be clear at first, but 
do not let that frighten you. She will not have an- 
other spasm if the same treatment is continued that is 
now being given her. God bless you dear ones ; noth- 
ing shall be allowed to pass that we can bring to bear 
upon the case from either your side of life or from 
ours. The presence of these mediums in this home 
gives us the battery from which to draw the forces 
that will save your child. Remember what I say and 
trust me. Tomorrow night at five o'clock you will feel 
no hesitation in reading this to any member of the 
household. Your daughter will get well; all will be 
right, and all will be happy. Trust me for this proph- 
ecy ; I know whereof I speak. Think not of the pos- 
sibility of her leaving you, for she will not do so now. 
If the mediums feel exhausted at times, never mind 
for we shall use their forces freely to save her. They 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 271 

should keep this thought in mind. Your friend and 
helper, E. V. Wilson." 

This message was written at five o'clock p. m. At 
six thirty, one and one-half hours later, Mrs. M. awoke 
from the sleep produced by the chloroform. Her 
memory was gone. Her condition was pitiful. She 
did not remember that her babe was born, and was 
greatly surprised when she was told that she was the 
mother of a sweet girl baby. She could remember but 
little of the past. The next morning she could not re- 
member a visit she had made to her sister-in-law the 
Sunday previous to her sickness ; all of which corrob- 
orates the spirit message which reads as follows : "She 
will awaken bewildered and in a condition like unto 
that of dreams. Her mind will not be clear at first ; 
but do not allow that to frighten you." Soon after 
awakening she suddenly showed symptoms of the re- 
turn of the spasms. The nurse, Mrs. C, in speaking 
of the matter later, said : "The spasm so-called 
amounted to nothing; it was but a shiver and did not 
last half a minute." The next morning while at break- 
fast, Dr. T. said : "I said last night when I went 
home that Mrs. M. would have no more spasms. The' 
symptoms she did have were very slight, lasting less 
than half a minute." 

Mrs. M. improved slowly but surely. On the fol- 
lowing day after the message was written at five 
o'clock the household was cheerful, and all had strong 
hopes of her recovery ; and here was the fulfillment of 
the prophecy : "Remember what I say, and trust me ; 
tomorrow night at five o'clock you will feel no hesita- 
tion in reading this to any member of the household." 
There were three physicians in attendance at first, and 
two profesional nurses the first week. One nurse re- 
mained with her eight weeks, and it was nearly three 
months before she was well again, but thanks to the 
dear spirit friends, and the good care she received at 
the hands of faithful doctors and patient nurses, Mrs. 
M. was raised to health and happiness once more, and 



7,7 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

the truth of Spiritualism and its blessing was once 
more demonstrated. 

All of the prophecies the spirit made in the above 
written message were fulfilled. Five times the spirit 
stated that Mrs. M. would get well, and twice he stated 
emphatically that she would have no more spasms. 
Once he stated she would awaken bewildered and 
warned us not to be frightened at that for she would 
get well, all would be right, and we would all be happy. 
Every statement made by the spirit came true. 

Spiritualism in this case, as in millions of others, 
demonstrates its helpfulness and blessing in time of 
sorrow and trouble, and also proves the existence of 
the "Gift of Prophecy" and the possibility of the truth 
of certain passages of scripture among which is the 
following: "And the spirits of the prophets are sub- 
ject to the prophets." (1st Cor. xiv-32.) 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Prophecy Made and Fulfilled — Missionary Work East 
and West — Spirit Messages and Tests at Ft. 
Scott, Spring Hill, Kansas, and Sheridan, Wyom- 
ing — Spirit Gives Lecture in Verse — Remarkable 
Seance at Clear Lake, Iowa — Demonstrations of 
Spirit Power at Girard, Mich. — Prophecy of Wire- 
less Telegraphy — We Give Platform Tests at the 
N. S. A. Convention in Minneapolis, Minn. 

A Prophecy Made and Fulfilled. 

At Chesaning, Mich., July 1, 1904, Mrs. Margaret 
LaGrange, of Detroit, Mich., at the home of Mr. and 
Mrs. Edward Waldron, while at the dinner table, 
passed under the control of her spirit guide, "Moca- 
taw," and told Mr. Warren Rouse, a young man who 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 273 

was present, that the "Spragues" would be in Chesan- 
ing\ Sept. 7th, and that he must go and have a reading 
with one of them, and he would get just what he 
wanted. 

Airs. Sprague and I arrived in Chesaning on Sept. 
7th, going there to fill an engagement for three even- 
ing meetings. This engagement had not been thought 
of by anyone at the time Mrs. LaGrange made the 
prophecy. We were hundreds of miles away working 
in another state at the time, not knowing whither we 
would drift. We were as liable to visit the Atlantic or 
the Pacific coasts as we w r ere to visit Chesaning. At 
the time this prophecy was made we had never met 
Mrs. LaGrange or Mr. Rouse. 

On our arrival in Chesaning, Mr. Rouse came and 
had a reading with Mrs. Sprague. He was much 
pleased and said he had received just what he wanted 
most. Mrs. LaGrange's spirit-guide knew what no 
one on earth knew, namely : that we would be in Ches- 
aning on the 7th day of September, two months after 
the prophecy was made, and more than six weeks be- 
fore anyone on earth knew that we would be within a 
thousand miles of Chesaning on that date. 

The evidence multiplies ; the mystery deepens ; 
though the facts come clearer and clearer as they mul- 
tiply. 

"Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but 
rather that ve may prophesy." (1st Corinthians 
xiv-1.) 

Missionary Work East and West. 

During the third week of October, 1904, at the time 
of the holding of the Louisiana Exposition, The Na- 
tional Spiritualist Association held its annual conven- 
tion in St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs. Sprague and I were 
enrolled among the delegates and also filled places on 
the program as platform test mediums, as in former 
years. 

At the close of the convention we turned our faces 
westward, visiting St. Joseph and Kansas City, Mis- 



2Y4 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

souri, Fort Scott, Spring' Hill, and many other places 
in Kansas; Denver, Colorado; Sheridan, Wyoming; 
Billings, Livingston and Bntte, Montana; stopping 
long enough in the latter place to have the smallpox, 
Mrs. Spragne spending two weeks of the time in the 
pest house, and receiving her credentials as a graduate 
from that institution. Such credentials are supposed 
to be a guarantee of immunity from the miserable dis- 
ease until the end of earth life. While she was earn- 
ing her securities from this overestimated and most 
fearfully dreaded disease, I was dragging myself two 
or three times a day to a down-town telephone — hav- 
ing been assured that smallpox was not "catching" 
over a telephone — to interrogate her nurse regarding 
the state of her health, or quietly sitting in a rocking 
chair or lying on a lounge in the home of my friends, 
Mr. and Mrs. James, and their mother, Mrs. Bradley, 
sometimes gasping for breath because of the brimstone 
fumes from the great smelting works, and the high 
altitude of the mountains upon which the city was 
built. I supposed at the time I was a victim of just 
common, every day, old-fashioned la grippe, but at the 
last, to my utter astonishment it was discovered that I 
had the "walking smallpox." I did not get my grad- 
uation papers, but we never saw a happier time since 
our wedding day than when I drove up to the pest 
house, and Mrs. Sprague left the fumigating room, 
entered the carriage, waved her handkerchief as a 
good-bye signal to the dear and faithful nurse as we 
left for the four-mile drive to town. 

We went direct to the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. L. 
Homes who had kindly volunteered to welcome and 
shelter the poor smallpox victims. It was lovely of 
them and we shall never forget these dear people and 
their great kindness in the matter, as we had no other 
place to go. 

If the hotels and boarding houses had felt disposed 
to admit us, their occupants would have stampeded, 
leaving us as the only guests. We had become quite 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 275 

well known, and very unpopular in the city, through 
the advertising we had received for bringing the small- 
pox to town from Billings where it had become a rag- 
ing epidemic. We were told that 1,000 innocent and 
helpless school children were vaccinated in one day at 
one dollar per child, but we never heard of one busi- 
ness man being poisoned with the vaccine virus. Was 
it because the business men were immune and would 
not take or impart the dreaded disease ? Or was it be- 
cause they could not spare the time to be made sick 
by having their blood poisoned? Or was it because 
they had "influence" as well as physical strength suffi- 
cient to ward off any onslaught made upon them by 
those who make the medical laws or those who enforce 
them ? One thing is clear : the children could not pro- 
tect themselves against this crime against nature being 
practiced upon them, therefore they must suffer. The 
business men could protect themselves against such 
abortive measures and they were allowed to remain at 
large without this medical and legislative protection ( ?) 
Oh ! what a farce is enacted every time a "smallpox 
scare" appears. 

With all of the excitement and with one smallpox 
patient — myself — at large scattering the germs of this 
terrible contagious disease broadcast, and with the 
many that were "exposed'' by Mrs. Sprague, some of 
them by kissing her, others by treating her magnet- 
ically, no one, so far as we know, ever took the disease 
from either of us. 

We may look back to this experience at Butte and 
joke about it or make light of it now that it has passed, 
but it was one of the most terrible and trying experi- 
ences of our lives ; not so much because of the disease 
that overtook us as it was from the treatment we re- 
ceived at the hands of those whose duty it was to fulfill 
the medical laws of the city and the state, and of some 
others who, poor souls ! were frightened nearly to 
death. 



876 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

We harbor no ill will or unkind feelings toward any 
in consequence of their actions in the above related 
experience. We realize that we are all creatures of 
environment and education, and are governed by cir- 
cumstances. Therefore, we retain only the kindliest 
feelings and best wishes for all who were by force of 
circumstances connected with this unpleasant affair. 

We remained but one night in Butte after Mrs. 
Sprague was released from the pest house. We left 
there next morning for Spokane, Washington, where 
we spent a busy and a happy week with the good 
workers in our movement, holding meetings every 
evening. Leaving there, we went to Seattle, Wash- 
ington, where we spent another week of good work 
with faithful and kindred souls whose hearts are aflame 
with the inspiration of our divine philosophy. 

We were greatly and agreeably surprised to meet 
Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Wiley and their daughter, 
Mrs. Laura Barry, who was then managing the Col- 
onade Hotel. We had not then learned that they were 
living here. Airs. Wiley is Mrs. Sprague's only sister 
now living on this side of life, and they had met but 
once in thirty years. What a happy week these two 
kindred souls spent together. We all enjoyed it greatly. 

We left Seattle, stopping to hold meetings in Ta- 
coma, Washington; Portland, McMinnville, Corvallis, 
Cottage Grove, Medford and Ashland, Oregon, and 
Dunsmuir, California, arriving at San Francisco 
March 5th. 

After a week of activity in which several of the lead- 
ing workers from different local societies joined us in 
doing excellent work, we moved on down the coast, 
stopping at San Jose, Cupertino, Santa Cruz, Santa 
Barbara, Montecito, Summerland, Los Angeles and 
San Diego, California, and stepped over the national 
boundary line into Tijuana, Mexico, having traversed 
the western coast of the the United States and holding 
meetings from Seattle, Washington, to the Mexican 
border. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 277 

Turning back we passed through the interior ot the 
state of California, visiting Fresno and Sacramento, 
thence east to Salt Lake City, Utah, the headquarters 
of the Mormons. From there we traveled east over 
the Rocky Mountains, stopping to hold meetings and 
organize societies at Grand Junction, Glenwood 
Springs, Leadville, Colorado Springs, and Denver, 
Colorado. We continued our travels towards the east, 
stopping at Omaha, Nebraska, and different towns in 
Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, 
Pensylvania, New York, Connecticut and the Atlantic 
coast, then making our way back to the Mississippi 
River and closing the fiscal year of missionary work 
in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the Annual Coven- 
tion of the National Spiritualists Association was held. 

During this year of missionary labor we visited 20 
different states of our Union ; attended one National 
Spiritualist Convention and two State Spiritualist Con- 
ventions, one at Topeka, Kansas, and one at Lansing, 
Michigan ; visited a large number of local societies, 
adding many new members to their membership list ; 
held 261 meetings ; organized nineteen new local socie- 
ties ; wrote nine hundred letters and traveled fourteen 
thousand miles. I publish this so the reader may have 
an idea of the scope or extent of a single year of our 
missionary work. I shall have a word to say a little 
later regarding the missionary work done by us in the 
thirteen years of our pilgrimage. 

Spirit Messages and Tests at Ft. Scott and Spring 
Hill, Kansas, and Sheridan, Wyoming. 

Ft. Scott, Kansas.— On Friday, Nov. 18, 1904, we 
held our first meeting at Ft. Scott, Kansas. We ar- 
rived there on the afternoon of the day before we held 
our meeting. There was no person in the hall that we 
had ever met before. After I had given a lecture Mrs. 
Sprague gave several pointed tests and then turning 
her back to the audience she extended an invitation to 
anyone who wished for a reading to rise and speak a 



2 i s A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

few words and resume his seat. A gentleman — Mr. 
\Y. — arose and said he would like a reading and then 
sat down. Mrs. Sprague then faced the audience 
again and proceeded to give him a number of tests, 
closing with the following: She said, "I see you sir 
climbing a ladder; it falls and you fall with it. You 
seem to be all tumbled about and rolled up with it. 
You are badly bruised. You are hurt all over your 
body, but you are injured most in your back, just 
where I place my hand." She placed her hand on 
her own back and said : "The ribs on this — the right 
side — were almost torn loose from the backbone. This 
occurred a long time ago but you feel the effects of it 
today, especially when you take cold. Now sir, will 
the gentleman whom I am reading rise that I may 
know who he is?" The gentleman arose and she asked 
if he could recognize her statements and would verify 
them. He replied by saying that everything she had 
told him was perfectly correct. 

After the meeting he told us that it was remarkable 
how she told things so accurately. He then went on 
to explain the last test she gave him. He said that 
twenty-three years before he was working on a local 
freight train on a nearby railroad. He gave the name 
of the road and the place but I failed to record them 
so cannot give them. He said that as the train pulled 
out from the station he stepped from the platform 
upon an old wooden ladder on the side of a box car 
and when he had climbed two or three steps up the 
ladder the top pulled loose and let him fall, clinging to 
the ladder, to the platform. The bottom of the ladder 
still hanging to the car caused him to be dragged and 
rolled over and over bruising him very badly and in- 
juring his back exactly as she had described it. 

Let us see if this was a real test. This man — Mr. 
W. — was a total stranger to Mrs. Sprague, she never 
having met him or heard of him before. She did not 
know which one of the men of that large audience had 
arisen and asked for the reading. She certainly could 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 279 

not know which man was going to rise when she in- 
vited anyone who wished a reading to do so. It was 
not possible for her to know which one of all those 
strangers had arisen and asked for a reading, because 
the seats all around this man were full of people. Mrs. 
Sprague at the time of giving the test told the gentle- 
man that the spirit she had described for him was the 
one that had given her the facts which she had re- 
ported to him. He said he recognized her, and that 
all of the tests were correct. If such facts as these are 
not proofs of the claims we make, namely, that a future 
life is positively demonstrated what proof could be 
given that would demonstrate anything? Could any- 
thing in this world be demonstrated? I think not. 

Spring Hill, Kansas. 

In the month of November, 190J:, while giving plat- 
form readings at Spring Hill, Kansas, Mrs. Sprague 
turned to a lady and asked if she would like to have a 
reading. She replied that she would be pleased to 
have one, and Mrs. Sprague proceeded as follows : 
''There is a beautiful spirit here who calls you mother." 
Here Mrs. Sprague described the spirit carefully and 
said : "She passed away suddenly. Everything seems 
so dark around me," etc. Then followed a consoling 
message from this spirit daughter to her bereaved 
mother and the lady who sat beside her whom the 
spirit called sister. I can give the reader no idea of 
the beauty of this spirit message. The ladies were in 
tears at its close. When the meeting was dismissed 
the two ladies came to Mrs. Sprague and with words 
of deep feeling expressed their thankfulness. 

Oh how comforting it is to meet our friends, who 
have died, face to face and communicate with them ! 
The medium has the eyes to see their faces. If the 
investigator does not have, then he must sec the 
spirit as the blind man sees his friend in this life, 
through the eves of others. 



880 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Sheridan, Wyoming. 

At Sheridan, Wyoming, Dec. 22, 1904, while Mrs. 
Sprague was giving public readings she requested that 
the name of some citizen of that place be given by the 
audience for her to read from. There was a name 
given which I will call Mr. B. Mrs. Spragne began 
by saying: "This man is very secretive. He keeps 
his business to himself. He makes no confidants. If 
he has a wife she knows but little of his arlairs. He 
is one who holds people at a distance ; he is rather 
hard to approach. He is civil and polite, but many 
people do not feel at ease in his presence. This is not 
saying that he is not a good man. Like all the rest 
of ns, he did not make himself, but was born with 
these peculiarities. He is a student of nature, not only 
in the material world, but in the metaphysical and 
spiritual realms of thought and investigation." She 
gave a great deal more regarding the gentleman, and 
much that indicated that he was a highly intellectual 
and intelligent man. She then inquired if the reading- 
was correct. The gentleman who gave his name replied 
that the gentleman was present and could speak for 
himself. No one answered and Mrs. Sprague said 
she would be pleased to hear from someone who was 
acquainted with the gentleman, or the gentleman him- 
self might simply state whether the reading was cor- 
rect or not. There was an awkward silence for a little 
time, but finally Mr. B. arose and said that he did not 
wish to be mixed up in this matter, though he did not 
wish to antagonize it. Said he: 'T do not wish to 
state whether 1 think the reading is correct or not. I 
simply do not wish to have anything to say about it. 
I decline to state whether the lady is right or not." 
The way he said this was sufficient to convince the 
strangers who were present that Mrs. Sprague was 
correct in the statement that his secretiveness was 
great. Many came to us at the close of the meeting 
and said that the reading was certainly correct. Mr. 
B. lived at the same hotel where we were stopping 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 28i 

and he told Mrs. Sprague the same evening that she 
was correct in his reading, but he thought the public 
meeting was not the proper place for such work; that 
it should be done in private. This was our first day 
in Wyoming and we had never seen Mr. B before. 

Spirit Gives Lecture in Verse. 

At the Spiritualist camp meeting held in August, 
1905, at Ashley, Ohio, our spirit helper and teacher, 
Andrew Payn, made a forty-five minute speech in 
which he told the story of his earthly life. I came 
upon the platform intending to talk a few minutes, as 
the service was to be a sort of symposium or confer- 
ence, and without a moment's forethought as to what 
our subject was to be, I came under the influence and 
the entire lecture was delivered in rhyme. Beginning 
with his birth, parentage and childhood, he carried 
the story on through his school and college days, tell- 
ing of his education for and development as an Epis- 
copal minister ; his teachings called heresy ; his trial 
for heresy ; his imprisonment in a dungeon for almost 
seventeen long and weary years ; his awful loneliness ; 
his release that came at last by death when his mother 
came and took him to her spirit home. He told of his 
long rest in spirit life, which he said was necessitated 
because of his weak condition of mind and spirit, 
caused by his long incarceration. He mentioned his 
many years in the spirit world spent in the study of 
laws governing mediumship both in the spiritual and 
physical world. He spoke of his coming to me when 
first I made my appearance on this physical plane ; 
how he had been with me through all of my varying 
experiences ; and how he labored until I was thirty- 
four years of age before he was able to bring about 
the necessary conditions to control and speak through 
me. He also spoke of the work that had been accom- 
plished through my mediumship in the last twenty- 
four years, and prophesied of what would he done in 
the future. 



28* A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

It was a lovely experience, a fine demonstration of 
spirit power and a happy surprise to the congregation 
as it was to me. I had no more thought of what was 
coming than the audience had. We would have been 
glad if a reporter had been present to have taken the 
lecture. We would enjoy reading it. 

Do yon doubt, my kind friend, as yon read ? 

It is proper to donbt till yon know. 
Were yon taught by a different creed? 

Seek knowledge if yon wish to grow. 

Honest doubt, truth may often relieve, 

False theories it will overthrow. 
It is well if yon truly believe, 

But better, much better, to know. 

Remarkable Seance at Clear Lake, Iowa. 

On November 1, 1905, we held a seance at 
Spragne's Hall at Clear Lake, Iowa. Every person 
in the hall was a stranger to us. Airs. Sprague gave 
readings to twelve persons ; described twenty-two dif- 
ferent spirits ; gave the names of many of them, some- 
times only the first names and sometimes the full 
names ; related many incidents, accidents and experi- 
ences in the lives of these twelve persons ; personated 
several spirits and told what caused their transition ; 
diagnosed the disease of two patients in the audience ; 
told two or three of their mediumship, giving them 
instructions how to develop it, etc. She gave in all 
more than one hundred and fifty positive tests and 
proofs of spirit presence and power, and all without 
making a single mistake or giving a single thing that 
was not fully recognized. At the close of the seance 
I requested the twelve persons who had received read- 
ings to rise to their feet. They did so, and I said : 
"If any one of you has received a statement from Mrs. 
Sprague that yon do not recognize as correct, please 
state that fact now." No one responded. "Do yon 
each one recognize all that Mrs. Sprague has told you 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 283 

as being correct?" ''Yes,'' "Yes," and "I do," "I do," 
came from every quarter. In addition to this let it 
be remembered that each reading was acknowledged 
and the tests verified as she gave the readings. 

This was a real "Pentecostal Feast," similar to the 
one recorded in Scripture : "And they were all filled 
with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other 
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 
ii, 4.) 

Mrs. Sprague, on this occasion, like the Apostles of 
old, was filled with the "Holy Ghost" (Spirit power), 
"and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit 
(Guides) gave them (her) utterance." 

We held four meetings in Clear Lake, and after 
leaving there a report of them was published in the 
"Sunflower," a Spiritualist paper, signed by the Pres- 
ident of the Clear Lake Spiritualist Society, Mr. E. 
H. Vandenbursr, which follows : 



t»3 



THE CLEAR LAKE SPIRITUALIST SOCIETY 
REORGANIZED. 

"Mr. and Mrs. Sprague held some very successful 
meetings in Clear Lake, la., November 1st, 2nd, 3rd 
and 5th. Mr. Sprague certainly ranks among our 
very best lecturers on Spiritualism. No one could 
successfully deny his convincing proofs of our beau- 
tiful philosophy. 

"Mrs. Sprague probably gave over five hundred 
tests in five evenings, and nearly all were recognized. 
Our society was reorganized, fifteen new members ad- 
mitted, new officers elected, and everything started 
with new vigor and strength. 

"(Signed) E. H. Vandenburg, Pres." 

Spirits Manifest at Girard, Mich. 

Mrs. Sprague, while giving readings at a meeting 
held at Girard, Mich., designated a man in the audi- 
ence (Mr. Hinkley) and said: "You appear to be a 
well man sir, but you are far from being in good 



884 A futur'e life demonstrated. 

health. When you exercise a little while you become 
exhausted and have to stop and rest." After giving 
details of his condition, tracing the cause of his ill- 
health, etc., she described a spirit lady and said she 
was the one who gave her the information she had 
given, and asked him if he could verify the reading. 
Mr. Hinkley replied that he could not, and said: "It 
does not hit my case at all." "Well," said Mrs. 
Sprague, "I have given it just as the spirit gives it to 
me." "I cannot help it," said Mr. H. "You are the 
farthest from the truth. I am never sick." Turning 
to a gentleman (Mr. Rose) who was sitting beside 
Air. H., Mrs. Sprague asked: "Is this reading for 
you, sir?" "Everything you have said applies to me 
exactly," said he. "Your diagnosis is perfectly cor- 
rect in its every detail as applied to my case." Mr. 
Hinkley was sitting on the same seat with Mr. Rose, 
with his arm on the back of the seat and his hand 
touching Mr. Rose's shoulder. Such cases are so 
often met with in our experience that we have learned 
that the subtle laws governing the magnetic elements 
should be handled with care, else one is very liable to 
err in giving readings. 

At this same meeting there occurred another pe- 
culiar incident in test giving. Mrs. Sprague turned 
her back to the audience and invited any man who 
wished for a reading to rise in his seat and whistle 
and then sit down again. A gentleman — Mr. L. Dean 
— did so and Mrs. Sprague proceeded to give him a 
reading. Among other things that she told him was 
the following: "I feel a strange stinging sensation in 
my upper lip. It is a peculiar feeling. I do not know 
how to account for it. Yes, I do ; I get it from you. 
You have this peculiar stinging sensation in your 
upper lip. Am I not right sir?" Mr. D. replied that 
lie had no stinging sensation in his lip, such as she 
had described, but that all of her other statements 
were correct. "Rut sir," said Mrs. Sprague, "I get 
this stinging sensation in my lip and I am impressed 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 285 

strongly that it belongs to you." "Well," said he, "I 
had my lip cut several years ago but it never has that 
stinging sensation unless I rub it. It does not sting- 
now." 

There are many things connected with every new 
discovery that seem strange until we become familiar 
with them. Spiritualism with its vast realm of 
research and present discovery is no exception to the 
rule. How a medium may be made to feel another 
person's physical condition, taking on his disease, or 
to feel physically what another person has felt at 
some previous time, I am not able to say ; but I do 
know that mediums often do those things and more 
than these ; they often feel and know the mental, 
moral and the spiritual condition of those with whom 
they come in contact ; and this applies not only to 
those who dwell in the mortal flesh but also to those 
who inhabit the spirit realm. This borders on the 
marvelous, but it is nevertheless true. Life's mys- 
teries are many and they are not yet all solved. We 
should be open to conviction, willing to learn and 
careful not to try to measure all of the physical, 
mental and spiritual forces of the universe by our 
own little, insignificant capacity to grasp the mighty 
truths of the universe. 

Prophecy of Wireless Telegraphy. 

From the time that E. V. Wilson first came to join 
our spirit band, which was in the year 1881, at dif- 
ferent times he prophesied the near approach of the 
time when communication between the nations of the 
earth would be carried on without wires.' One of 
those prophecies was made in Oil City, Pa., on April 
15, 1894. while entrancing me and delivering a lecture 
in "Old Rich Hall." 

The following extract from a letter written by Mr. 
Fred A. Steck, a leading business man and respected 
citizen of Oil City, Pa., and dated April 22, 1908, 
mentions one of these prophecies. It says : 



386 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

"I do remember, vividly, that you, or E. V. Wilson 
through you, in a lecture delivered in the Old Rich 
Hall during your first visit here (April 15, 1894), 
predicted that it would not be many years until we 
would be telegraphing from one part of this country 
to another without the use of wires. Has this pre- 
diction come true? A number of persons who were 
there have reminded me of it since the wireless 
system has been discovered, although my memory 
needed no prompting. 

"(Signed) FRED A. STECK." 

Spirit Tests at the N. S. A. Convention. 

At the Annual Convention of the National Spirit- 
ualist Association held in Minneapolis, Minn., Oct. 16 
to 20 inclusive, I was called upon to act as message 
bearer on the evenings of the 17th and 19th. Among 
the numerous readings we gave were the following: 
We gave permission to anyone in the back part of 
the church who wished for a reading to rise in his 
seat, speak a few words and resume his seat, when 
we would read for him. A gentleman at the extreme 
back part of the house did so and we saw a lady 
spirit with him. We gave a minute and extended 
description of the spirit and asked if he recognized 
her. He hesitated and we told him not to favor us 
in the least but to tell the truth about it. He said : 
"I am a little in doubt about the identity of the spirit." 
"Well sir," said we, "we will remove that doubt. 
You have a small, old-fashioned album in your home 
and that album contains the picture of the lady I have 
described." We described the album in detail and 
said: "When you go home get the album and you 
will find the picture of the lady taken in full length. 
Tt is on the fourth page of the album." 

"I cannot tell about that," said he. "Well sir, will 
you look in that old album when you go home, and 
if you find a full length picture of your mother on 
the fourth page will you bring it here tomorrow 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 287 

evening and let the congregation see it?" we asked. 
''I will sir," replied the gentleman and we left him 
and continued our readings with others. 

On the following evening he came to the meeting, 
stepped upon the platform and sat down beside me, 
handing me a little old album and saying: "Look it 
through and see if you can find the picture of the 
spirit you said you saw with me last evening." I did 
so, but could not find it, and told him so. He then 
handed me another old album and said : "See what 
you can find in that." I turned to the fourth page 
and the picture I was looking for was not there. I 
was disappointed, but kept on looking until I reached 
the last page without finding the picture I was looking 
for. I then turned back to the first page of the album 
and at once said : "Here it is ! This is the picture of 
the lady whom I saw with you last evening." "Well," 
said he, "you said it was my mother you saw." "So I 
did," said I. "Is not that your mother's picture?" 
"No," said he. "That is my wife's mother's picture." 
"Well, did you not call her mother?" said I. "Yes, I 
did, but she was not my own mother," he replied. 

The picture was on the first page, and not on the 
fourth as we had said when giving the reading. It 
was one of four pictures on the first page, and it was 
as we had said, a full length picture ; that is, a picture 
with the lady in a standing position showing her form 
from head to foot. 

There were two defects in this reading, namely : 
we said it was his mother when it was his mother-in- 
. aw. and we said it was on the fourth page of the 
album when, instead, it was one of four pictures on 
the first page. These two errors on our part are eas- 
ily accounted for. We heard the words "fourth" and 
"page" but did not catch the words "on first." We 
heard the word "mother" but did not catch the words 
"in law." It will be a greater task for the skeptic to 
explain how we could know so much about an entire 
stranger who chanced to select himself from among 



888 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

one thousand two hundred people for a reading, than 
it is for us to explain how these two little differences 
chanced to occur. 

How could I know anything about this stranger 
whom I had never seen before? 

How could I describe the spirit whom I had never 
seen or heard of? 

How did I know how to describe the album? I 
had never seen it. 

How did I know that the picture of the spirit I saw 
was in the album? 

How did I know the man had such an old album? 

How could I know that this particular picture was 
taken in full form pose? 

How could I select the right picture from all the 
others in the two albums? 

In short how could I know so much about some- 
thing that I knew nothing about? In this case I am 
the one who can answer with authority, for I KNOW. 
I will answer all of the above questions briefly, but 
truthfully. My "familiar spirit," the spirit of E. V. 
Wilson, gave me the information regarding the read- 
ing in question. This is the truth, and is the only 
solution to the problem. Sages, philosophers and 
scientists can never settle it on any other hypothesis 
as this is the absolute truth. 

The chairman of the convention, Dr. George B. 
Warne, explained this test to the large audience, and 
after the meeting closed hundreds came to the plat- 
form to see the picture. 

The people of this world are hungry for informa- 
tion regarding the next world, and they flock to the 
Spiritualist meetings for the proof of a future life, as 
Spiritualism is the only religion that has the proof, 
or attempts to demonstrate the truth of a life after 
death. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 289 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Three Ministers Get Readings at Edgewood, Iowa — 
Man Falls to His Death. His Presence Proved by 
Personation at Battle Creek, Mich. — Fine Tests 
at Delphos, Kansas, Spiritualist Camp-meeting — 
Wonderful Table Tipping Seance With J. E. 
Rife, of Wichita, Kansas — Mrs. Sprague's Me- 
diumship Discovers Great Irrigation Project at 
Mountain Park, Oklahoma — Spirit Who Suffers 
Hell of Conscience Manifests at N. S. A. Conven- 
tion in Chicago. 

Readings at Edgewood, Iowa. 

Edgewood, Iowa, is a village of five hundred inhab- 
itants, and we held the first public Spiritualist meetings 
ever held in the place. I think everybody in town and 
a large number from the surrounding country attended 
the meetings for the opera house was well filled at each 
service. Much interest was manifested and good work 
was accomplished. 

Mrs. Sprague was usually successful in her message 
work and the few earnest Spiritualists of that place 
and surrounding towns who were present were much 
pleased. She gave many readings, and among her sub- 
jects were three ministers of the gospel. I will refrain 
from giving their names as it might be embarrassing to 
them to have them mentioned as among those who 
voluntarily arose and asked for readings. The first 
one to rise for a reading was Rev. S., a Latter Day 
Saint. Mrs. Sprague gave him a good reading, de- 
scribing spirits of his loved ones, mentioning incidents 
in his life, etc., as is her custom, and the gentleman 
acknowledged everything she told him and seemed 
pleased witli the reading. 



290 A FUTURE ClFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Rev. H., an Adventist, arose for his reading', but was 
rather reluctant in acknowledging the tests, but when 
urged to state whether they were correct or not, said 
they were partly right. 

Rev. T., a Congregationalism seemed pleased when 
his request for a reading was granted and was alert to 
catch every word she said, evidently accepting what 
she said as being true, but when asked by Mrs. 
Sprague if her statements were true, he said: "You 
ought to know." Mrs. Sprague explained that she 
only asked that the courtesy be granted her that the 
audience might know whether she was giving real 
tests or not. He again replied : "Well, you ought to 
know." "I do know, and they are true, and you ought 
to be willing to affirm or deny their truth since you 
had the courage to stand up for a reading." Even 
this did not reach his sense of justice and she passed 
on to others who were not afraid to acknowledge their 
spirit friends. 

I will record one of the many readings she gave in 
Edgewood. To a lady she described the spirits of 
two ladies who came, one of them bringing a babe ; 
she gave the name of the other. She told the lady of 
a severe sickness she had passed through ; giving many 
facts in relation thereto and then described the spirit 
of a gentleman who came to her and she said : "He 
passed out suddenly. Why ! he was snuffed out as 
one would snuff out a candle, it was done so quickly. 
This spirit gave a communication through Mrs. 
Sprague, describing his condition in spirit life and then 
said: "I heard your prayers dear one, when you 
prayed so earnestly to be led aright. Your pleading- 
prayer reached me and O ! how I longed to make you 
know it. I am doing all in my power to help you. I 
know your struggles and trials. I did not do as \ 
ought to have done, as you well know ; but I am try- 
ing to right the wrongs and correct the mistakes 1 
made so far as I can. You can help me with your 
good thoughts and 1 will help you." He said more, 
but this was all I could get of it, she talked so fast. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 291 

When the spirit ceased to control, Mrs. Sprague 
told the lady that her spirit mother was present. She 
described her appearance and then said she brought a 
little girl with her who said she wanted her mamma. 
She gave more regarding the child and closed by giv- 
ing a description of it. She then asked the lady if 
she could verify all of her statements in the reading. 
Apparently with deep feelings of emotion the lady 
said : "I recognize it all. Everything you have told 
me is true." 

For nearly one hour each evening, for the two meet- 
ings we held at Edgewood, Mrs. Sprague gave read- 
ings to these good people, all of whom were strangers 
to us. Our lectures were highly appreciated, and we 
were complimented by many. This was no extraordi- 
nary experience in our work with the exception of hav- 
ing three preachers participating in the exercises. This 
was a little unusual. 

Man Who Falls to His Death Manifests. 

At Battle Creek, Mich., on March 25, 1906, in one 
of our meetings the spirit of a young man came to 
Mrs. Sprague. She described him, gave his name, 
and said he was killed. She then personated him by 
taking on the condition through which he passed to 
spirit life. She cried out : "Oh ! I am falling, falling, 
falling," then recovering self possession she said: "Oh ! 
what a terrible sensation this spirit brings to me ! The 
sensation of falling and of fright mingled together is 
terrible. "He goes to you, (pointing to a nice look- 
ing couple in the audience) and you are his parents." 

This spirit gave his sorrowing parents a message 
which was clothed in words of tenderness and assur- 
ance, showing that he still lived, retained his love for 
them and his other dear ones, and that he was still 
conscious of what was transpiring in the home. It 
was a very affecting experience. The audience was 
visibly affected, and the joy of these dear sorrowing 
parents shone through their tears. They acknowl- 



292 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

edged the message and tests. The young man was 
killed hy a fall as described. These people were stran- 
gers to Mrs. Sprague, but we were introduced to them 
at the close of the meeting. I believe they lived in 
some place near Battle Creek, and their names were 
Air. and Mrs. — Huckstraw. 

Fine Tests at Delphos, Kansas, Camp-meeting. 

While we were serving the Delphos, (Kans.), Spir- 
itualist Camp-meeting Association, in the month of 
August, 190G, we gave a test to Mrs. G. W. Skinner, 
of Cawker City, Kans. After having described Mrs. 
Skinner's spirit mother and given her name, we gave 
the spirits' message, all of which was satisfactory and 
pleasing to Mrs. Skinner. Then to make the proof 
already given doubly sure, the spirit showed us an old 
leather covered Bible with corners worn and other- 
wise the worse for wear, and we said: "This old 
Bible was your mother's, and contained the family 
record." I then read the family names recorded 
therein, and the lady recognized them all and pro- 
nounced them correct. We then said : "Your moth- 
er's name does not appear with the others as part of 
the leaves are torn out." Mrs. Skinner verified our 
statements, and the next day Mr. and Mrs. Skinner 
told me that the test was remarkably true ; that our 
description of the spirit and of the Bible was perfect ; 
that we gave her mother's name correctly, and that 
our seeing the leaf torn out of the Bible was the 
crowning test. 

They said this mother did not acknowledge how old 
she was, because of her pride ; that she declared she 
was but sixty-five years old when she was seventy- 
two; and when told that she was seventy-two, and this 
Bible family record shown to prove it, she tore the 
leaf out of the book that the true record of her age 
was written upon, and went on claiming that she was 
but sixty-five years old. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 293 

My dear reader, if this is not proof that the "dead" 
live and return to communicate knowledge which they 
possess, what evidence could be given to prove it, or 
any other fact, true? If you doubt spirit communica- 
tion, why, just study and investigate it until you know 
its truth. 

The following day Airs. Sprague acted as message 
medium at Delphos, and among others she gave a 
reading to a man in the audience, giving incidents and 
dates, relating experiences, describing spirits, etc., all 
of which was acknowledged and verified by the gen- 
tleman. She then proceeded by saying : "I see a 
ladder; I see you fall from it. Your arm is injured. 
I take the condition upon myself. My arm feels as 
though it was broken or badly injured. It seems to 
be twisted around.'' Then crooking her arm to show 
how it seemed to her, she said : ''This is the way my 
arm is drawn. It feels smaller than the other one. 
The gentleman did not recognize this last test, and it 
was passed by as a failure. ' 

The next morning another gentleman, Mr. W. J. 
Finch, of Jamestown, Kans., a stranger to us, came to 
our tent and told us that he was sitting just in front 
of the man who could not recognize the test about the 
ladder and the injured arm, and said : "That part of 
your reading belonged to me. I had the fall from a 
ladder injuring my arm as you described ; and the 
date you mentioned was correct. My arm has never 
been strong since." He then showed us his arm. It 
was not as large as the other one and was crooked 
just as Mrs. Sprague had stated. He was taking- 
treatments of Dr. Carson, of Kansas City, in the hope 
of getting help for it. Mrs. Sprague was "switched 
off," or turned aside from the gentleman she was 
reading for and read for Mr. Finch, though she was 
unconscious of the fact. The laws and forces gov- 
erning mediumship are very fine and subtle and we 
are almost blind and dumb to their delicate action. 



£94 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Wonderful Table-Tipping Seance. 

While attending the Winfield, Kans., Spiritualist 
Camp-meeting the latter part of August, 1906, we met 
Mr. J. E. Rife, of Wichita, Kans., who invited us to 
visit him in his tent and witness the phenomena pro- 
duced through his mediumship. Mr. Rife was a nice 
looking man of perhaps sixty years, unassuming and 
sincere. He had been a soldier in the War of the Re- 
bellion. 

On my arrival at his tent he told me that his phase 
of mediumship was not of the popular class ; that it 
did not attract the attention of the public as other 
phases did and consequently was not sufficiently in 
demand to call him into the field of active work. He 
must earn his living therefore at other occupations 
which retarded him in the good work for the cause 
of Spiritualism that he would like to do. "However," 
said he, ''I appreciate my mediumship and love the 
cause just as well, for through my mediumship I have 
convinced many of the truth of a future life and I 
have learned for myself that it is true ; besides this it 
is the greatest comfort to me to communicate with my 
dear friends in the spirit world." 

We sat down to a plain four-legged stand with a 
top about two feet wide and two feet six inches in 
length. Mr. Rife was sitting at one side of the stand 
and I at the other facing him. No one else sat at the 
stand or touched it at all, though several persons were 
standing behind me around the entrance to the tent. 
Tt was in the middle of the day and the entrance to 
the tent was open wide. There were no curtains, no 
darkness, no paraphernalia ; everything was simple 
and plain, and the manifestations proved their own 
genuineness. 

We placed our hands on the stand and sat a few 
minutes in silence, when the stand began to move. 
One side rose and went down slowly a few times, then 
the other side was operated in the same way. Mr. 
Rife, addressing the force that was moving it, said: 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 295 

"Is this some one of Mr. Sprague's friends that is 
moving the stand?" One side of the stand was raised 
and the leg struck the ground three times which sig- 
nified "yes." I then asked: "Is this my father who is 
tipping the stand?" The stand tipped once for "no." 
"Is it my brother?" One tip, indicating "no." "Is it 
my sister?'' Three tips followed, indicating "yes." 
"If yon are my sister will yon spell yonr name for me 
if I repeat the alphabet?" The stand tipped three 
times for "yes." I then began at the letter "A" and 
repeated slowly the alphabet. When I came to the 
letter "C" the stand tipped three times rapidly, and 
when I asked if the first letter of her name was "C," 
the stand answered "yes" with energy. I began re- 
peating the alphabet again and as soon as I spoke the 
letter "A" the stand tipped and when I asked if the 
letter "A" was the second letter of her name the 
stand answered "yes." So I wrote down the letters 
"C" and "A." I continued to repeat the alphabet and 
the stand continued to respond until it had spelled out 
the name "Calista," which was the name of my sister 
who had passed to the higher life some forty-five years 
before. 

It may be suggested that possibly I unconsciously 
moved the stand. I will say that in order to avoid any 
suspicion of such a thing, as there were several skep- 
tics present, I raised my hands until only the tips of 
my fingers touched the stand, and still it moved as 
before. 

Other friends communicated in the same way. That 
no one may say there might have been something in 
the tone of my voice that indicated to the medium the 
right letter in spelling the name of the spirits, I will 
state that the medium called the alphabet for the next 
two names and that his head was bowed down on his 
side of the stand so that he could not see my face a 
greater part of the time that the alphabet was being 
called. Four names of my spirit friends were spelled 



296 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

correctly and they were not ordinary names such as 
John, William, etc. 

In one case the table commenced to tip with energy 
and when I asked if it was my mother, the answer 
was "No." When I asked if it was my mother-in-law, 
the answer was "Yes." I asked if she would spell her 
full name for me and the stand answered "Yes." Mr. 
Rife began calling the alphabet and the stand re- 
sponded to the letter "E." I then asked Mr. Rife to 
wait a moment as I wanted to have the skeptics behind 
me know if there was a test given. I then took a 
piece of paper and wrote my spirit mother-in-law's 
name on the paper holding it so the medium could not 
see it, and letting the skeptics read it. Mr. Rife con- 
tinued calling the alphabet and the table responding to 
certain letters which I wrote on a piece of paper and 
spelled the name of my beloved mother-in-law "Emily 
Pray," just as I had written it on the paper. This 
was a convincing test to some of the skeptics, though 
one of them suggested that it might, after all, be 
"mind reading." Spiritualism has the evidence to de- 
throne every skeptic's theory that may be presented, 
and Mr. Rife asked me if I had any silver coin. I 
said I had a quantity of it. "All right," said he. "We 
will see if we cannot prove that it is not mind reading. 
Select any piece of silver, do not look at it but hold it 
in your hand tightly and we will see what the spirits 
may do." I put my hand in my pocket and selected a 
piece, then laid my hand on the top of the table, hold- 
ing it tightly closed, and Mr. Rife asked the spirit 
friends if they would tell us the date of the coin. The 
table signaled "Yes." Then it began by tipping once 
and stopped. Mr. Rife told me to write down the fig- 
ure one. I did so and the table then tipped eight 
times and I wrote down the figure eight. It then 
tipped four times and I wrote the figure four beside 
the others. Then the table tipped three times and T 
wrote the figure three with the others. This made 
the figures 1843. Up to this time not a person among 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 297 

us knew or had the least idea what was the date of the 
half dollar that I held in my hand. It might have 
contained any one of the dates of the last three-quar- 
ters of a century. No one in mortal flesh could tell 
the date of that coin. But the intelligence that moved 
the stand had given the date of the half dollar cor- 
rectly as was proved when I opened my hand. With 
this test the "mind reading" theory vanishes. There 
being no mind in mortal form that possessed the 
knowledge of the date stamped upon that silver half 
dollar. Air. Rife, the medium, could not read it in 
some one's mind that did not contain it. 

This one test conclusively overthrows the theory 
that "mind reading" explains all of the phenomena of 
Spiritualism, and the opposing theorists, scientists 
though they may be. will have to guess again. 

But let us continue : This experiment we tried 
three times, using a different piece of silver coin each 
time, and the spirit gave the dates correctly in each 
instance, though it was bothered a little in one case, 
whether on account of our miscounting or from some 
other cause, I am not able to say ; at any rate the spirit 
discovered the mistake and corrected it before anyone 
present in the mortal form knew T that a mistake had 
been made. The fact that the spirit discovered that 
we did not have the figures right when we asked for 
the corroboration after reading them shows that it 
must have to use effort either to discern the figures on 
the coin or to manipulate the stand in communicating 
them to us. 

But we did not stop here. Mr. Rife then suggested 
that I take from my pocket a handful of coin, which 1 
did. It was impossible for me to tell how many pieces 
or what denominations of coin I held in my hand, for 
the hand was closed and neither I nor any one else 
had seen them. 

Speaking to the spirits. Mr. Rife said : "How 
many dollar coins has Mr. Sprague in his hand?" The 
table did not move. "Are there anv one dollar coins 



298 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

in Mr. Sprague's hand?" he asked. The answer was 
"No." Then the medium asked how many half dol- 
lars I held in my hand, and the table tipped but once. 
"How many dimes is he holding in his hand?" was 
asked. The table tipped four times indicating that I 
held four dimes. "How many nickels?" said Mr. 
Rife. The table tipped five times. "How many one 
cent pieces?" was asked, and the stand tipped once. 
Then Mr. Rife said: "We have recorded your enu- 
meration of the coins as follows : No dollar coins, 
one half-dollar, four dimes, five nickels, and one cent. 
Have we recorded your count correctly?" The stand 
answered "yes" by tipping three times. 

Not a human being in the mortal form in all the 
world knew how r many of each denomination of coins I 
held in my hand. There was no doubt of this fact. 
But when I opened my hand laying' the handfull of 
silver on the table, as all of the witnesses will testify, 
there was no one dollar coin there ; there was one half 
dollar coin ; four dimes ; five nickels, and one cent. A 
total of eleven coins. 

There are but three possible -ways of explaining 
these phenomena outside or independent of their being 
produced by the spirits of those who have left our fire- 
sides and passed into the realm of spirits, neither of 
which theories are satisfactory. Spirit communion is 
the only thing that answers all objections and accounts 
for all phases of the phenomena. 

The three ways of explanation mentioned are as 
follows : The primitive Christians explained the 
phenomena when produced among themselves as 
coming from God, and when occurring among their 
opponents, as coming from the devil. This is true 
today in a measure only, as the Christians have repu- 
diated the phenomena and hold seances no more ; 
therefore they only condemn them, and those who be- 
lieve in them. 

Then, T. J. Hudson, scientist, tells us it is neither 
God nor the devil that produces them, but it is the 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 299 

medium's "sub-conscious mind," whatever that may 
be. If either of these three explanations are true, the 
author of the phenomena is the most colossal and con- 
summate liar of all the ages. Because whenever he, 
she, or it speaks it says : "I am a spirit." "I once 
lived in the flesh the same as you now live.'' "I am 
your father,'' "mother," "wife," "husband," "child" or 
"friend." If either one of these explanations were 
the true one, whether it be Almighty God, Almighty 
Devil, or Almighty Sub-conscious Mind, all three of 
them having been endowed with almost, if not quite, 
Almighty powers, what an awful calamity it would be 
to the whole human race to be subject to this mislead- 
ing and powerful influence, this unprincipled, lying 
and deceiving thing. May the Good God, if there be 
one, pity his children if we are his children, and deliver 
us from such nonsense. 

But this is too gloomy a thing to contemplate since 
it is not true. Spiritualism solves the mystery fully. 
The manifesting intelligence is just what it claims to 
be ; it is the spirit of our loved ones who prove that 
they have survived the change called death. If there 
were no other phenomena than that of table tipping 
such as I have described above, together with its added 
spirit messages and teachings of the Spiritual Philos- 
ophy, the fact of a future life is demonstrated by that 
phase alone. But there are some sixty phases of spir- 
itual phenomena to which we may turn for proof, each 
one of which is as wonderful and beautiful, and some 
of them still more so. 

Undoubtedly there are some honest Christians who 
will not have credulity sufficient to accept the above 
recorded facts, yet they accept stories of spirit phen- 
omena recorded in the Bible, and which they suppose 
to have occurred 3,379 years ago, as infallible truth. 
They accept these even though they border on the 
miraculous, as for instance : the story of Moses plac- 
ing the old dry rod of Aaron in his medium's cabinet, 
otherwise called "The Ark of the Covenant," and leav- 



300 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

ing it over night where it "Budded and brought forth 
buds, and bloomed and brought forth blossoms and 
yielded almonds," by the next morning. (See Num- 
bers XVII, 8, and which is corroborated in Hebrews 
IX, 4th verse). My story can be proved true and its 
demonstration repeated ; but unfortunately we must 
take the Bible story on faith or reject it as many do. 

Irrigation Project Known to Spirits. 

We filled an engagement at the Spiritualist Camp- 
meeting held at Mountain Park, Oklahoma, in Sep- 
tember, 1906, where we also held a State Spiritualist 
Convention and organized the Oklahoma State Spirit- 
ualist Association which we subsequently chartered 
with The National Spiritualists' Association. While 
giving messages at one of the evening meetings held 
in the beautiful town park, Mrs. Sprague invited any- 
one who wished to do so, to give the name of some 
living person and said she would read from the name. 
A name was given, and she was at once influenced and 
began describing a spirit whom she said was with the 
gentleman. She then said : "This spirit tells me that 
this gentleman is interested in a financial matter of 
great importance and interest to many people." After 
explaining farther, she said: "If this project is hand- 
led properly it will prove a great blessing to many as 
well as a great financial success. There are others in- 
terested with this gentleman in the matter but he 
seems to be the leading one in the enterprise. The 
spirit says it will be a success from the start if handled 
properly and will be the crowning effort of his life. 

When she had finished the people applauded her 
and a gentleman arose and acknowledged the truth of 
her statements so far as what had then transpired. At 
the close of the meeting the gentleman whose name 
had been given, and for whom she had been reading, 
came to us and said that the reading was wonderfully 
correct; that he was the president of a company that 
had secured a charter for an irrigation project that 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 301 

would revolutionize the country; that the men Mrs. 
Sprague spoke of were at that time in New York so- 
liciting a loan to be used in building a dam up in the 
mountains that would furnish water to irrigate the 
whole country. All of the people were interested in 
the question of irrigation and the test probably helped 
to bring out the large audience that attended our Sun- 
day meeting. I think nearly the whole people of the 
town were present. 

It is but just to say that Mrs. Sprague was a stran- 
ger to everyone in that audience, and in the town, and 
that she had never seen the gentleman for whom she 
was reading, and did not know which one she was 
reading for, nor whether he was a resident of Okla- 
homa or Washington, or whether present in the audi- 
ence or absent. The fact that the spirit gave her many 
details regarding this irrigation project, of which she 
had no knowledge whatever, is proof that there is an 
intelligence operating through her that is not her own. 
Believe whatever we may this is true. 

Spirit Suffers Hell of Conscience. 

At the annual convention of the National Spiritual- 
ists' Association held in the Y. M. C. A. hall, Chicago, 
Illinois, October, 1906, it was my pleasure to act as 
message bearer two evenings. I will record but one 
of the many tests given on that occasion. 

We requested someone who wanted a reading to 
rise in his seat and speak a few words. A number of 
persons responded and we said : "We will read for 
that gentleman standing near the post away up there 
in the gallery. "Is it I you mean?" said the gentle- 
man. "Yes, sir," said we; "we will read for you if 
that gentleman standing by you will please move away 
from you." We then described the spirit of a gentle- 
man standing beside him and said : "This man was 
your partner in business and through him you lost 
heavily. It was in the year 1889 that this occurred. 
He tells me to sav that he robbed and almost ruined 



302 .\ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

you, and that he cannot rest; that he is suffering the 
consequences of his wrong acts, and returns to you 
from his spirit home with feelings of sorrow, and con- 
trition. He is suffering the tortures of hell. Not the 
torment of eternal fire as taught by orthodox Christi- 
anity, but the hell of a guilty conscience. There is no 
forgiveness of sin ; each one must work out his own 
salvation. All are heirs of salvation. Such is the 
hell of modern Spiritualism." 

"This spirit comes tonight to confess to his wrong 
acts and to ask your forgiveness. He says he has 
suffered more than words can tell ; that he would 
gladly make restitution to you were it in his power ; 
but he is helpless to do so now. Your full and com- 
plete forgiveness will in a measure relieve his dis- 
tress." 

"Now, sir, we ask that you state to this audience : 
First, whether you are a stranger to the speaker ; sec- 
ond, if you recognize this spirit whom we have de- 
scribed ; third, was he your partner in business in 
1889? Fourth, did he rob and almost ruin you as we 
have stated? 1 ' 

In the midst of a perfect silence, in which every one 
was intently listening, the gentleman rose and said : 
"With one exception every word you have spoken is 
true. The man you have described was my partner in 
business and he robbed me as you have said, but it 
was in the year 1879 instead of 1889 as you stated. 
I am a stranger to you never having seen you until 
you came upon the platform tonight, and I will add, 
I came from a place 1,000 miles from here. I am a 
stranger in the city." "Are you a Spiritualist?" we 
asked. "No, sir," said he, "I am not a Spiritualist, 
although I must acknowledge that this experience 
makes me think there is something in it." 

We then said : "Modern Spiritualism does not 
teach Eternal Punishment, or punishment by fire. 
Nevertheless, its hell is hotter than the hell of old 
orthodox theology. Its hell is the hell of conscience. 
There is no escape from a guilty conscience. Repent- 



A FUTURE LTFE DEMONSTRATED. 303 

ing of one's sins or pleading guilty to them does not 
settle the account. Each one must work out his own 
salvation." 

At this point one of the reporters for the Chicago 
dailies, arose and said: "Please ask him if he forgives 
the spirit." We did so and the gentleman said: "I 
do. I must forgive him. I could not do otherwise." 

The following report of this spirit message appeared 
in the "Chicago Chronicle" next dav : 



"I AM IN HELL!" 



AX EXCEPTIONALLY SENSATIONAL INCIDENT AT THE 
LATE CONVENTION OF THE N. S. A." 



"I am in hell ! The terrible cry of a tortured soul 
uttered through E. W. Sprague, medium, rang out in 
the breathless silence of the Spiritualist convention last 
night, electrifying every man and woman present. The 
words of torment were followed by the still more 
awful utterance : "There is no forgiveness of sins." 

The medium laboring under an unbearable excite- 
ment, leaned forward over his silent audience and 
pointing to a man in the rear, said in tones vibrant 
with feeling: "The spirit of the man who speaks is 
that of one who was your business partner in 1889. 
He robbed you and ruined you. For his sins he is 
now in hell. Not the hell of orthodoxy, but the still 
more awful hell of conscience. He comes tonight to 
claim forgiveness, to ease in some measure his un- 
speakable torment. Is this true, and do you forgive 
him?" 

VERIFIES THE STATEMENT. 

Every eye in the audience was turned to the man 
designated, who slowly rose to his feet and in the 
midst of a silence that could be almost felt said : "With 



30 1 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

one exception every word you have spoken is true. 
The man you referred to was my partner and robbed 
me, but it was in 1879, not in 1889. I must forgive 
him. T will add that I come from a place 1,000 miles 
from here and I have never seen you until tonight. 
I am not a Spiritualist, although I believe in some of 
the doctrines of your faith." 

"The incident was by far the most impressive and 
sensational of the evening. With the exception of a 
negro spirit, who returned after being cut to pieces 
fourteen years ago, the remainder of the seance was 
devoted to messages from spirits in a condition of 
bliss who returned to notify their relatives of their 
happy state." 

What a difference a sensational heading and the 
changing of a few words, together with the throwing 
in of a negro who was cut to pieces fourteen years 
ago, makes in the telling of a story. There was no 
negro spirit who manifested at my seance that night. 
Aside from that fact this was a very good report for a 
Chicago daily paper. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



A Great Medical Clairvoyant — Federal Soldiers Con- 
fiscate an Old Bible — Tests Given in Bouquet St. 
Church, Pittsburg, Pa. — Mrs. Sprague's Good 
Work at Philadelphia, Pa., Belding and Port 
Huron, Mich. 

A Great Medical Clairvoyant. 

Modern Spiritualism has many good healing medi- 
ums who have blessed mankind by healing multitudes 
who were suffering from mental and physical disease. 
Many of the new discoveries in modern methods of 
healing have been given to the world through medi- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 305 

urns. I would be pleased to devote much space to the 
discussion of this phase of modern Spiritualism, but I 
shall only be able to speak of one of them in this 
work. The medium of which I shall speak is one of 
the most wonderful women of the century. I refer 
to Mrs. J. H. R. Matteson, of 248 North Division 
street, Buffalo, N. Y. 

For more than thirty-five years she has ministered 
to suffering humanity as a Medical Clairvoyant. In 
diagnosing the diseases of her patients she always goes 
into an unconscious trance. An Indian spirit, well 
known to many as one of the most amiable, sympa- 
thetic and kindly souls, takes complete control of Mrs. 
Mattesoirs body and mind, and then takes upon her 
the condition of the patient he is examining, carefully 
going over each part of her body with her hands, ap- 
parently examining each organ by itself so as to dis- 
cover if anything is wrong with it. This may seem 
strange to some people who know nothing of clair- 
voyance ; but the fact that she invariably tells what 
ails the patient and that she cures some of the most 
obstinate cases is proof that this "unusual" method of 
diagnosing and healing is of great value. 

This Indian spirit acting through Mrs. Matteson, 
can diagnose the disease of patients who are at almost 
any distance from the medium. People write her from 
all parts of the country for examinations ; she goes 
into a trance and discovers the diseases with which 
they are afflicted, and her daughter writes down what 
the Indian spirit dictates. She then forwards the 
diagnosis to the patients, who generally order the med- 
icine prescribed. In this manner Mrs. Matteson has 
healed thousands of people whom she has never seen ; 
many of whom had been pronounced incurable by the 
regular methods of treatment. Some of her patients 
whom she has treated, and others whom she is now 
treating reside in England, France, Germany, Italy 
and Sweden. Distance is no bar to spirit power. 
With her the spirit can discern the disease of the pa- 
tient across the ocean as well as at home. 



306 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Mrs. Matteson's home is filled with patients daily, 
each one waiting his or her turn to enter the side room 
with her and be examined. At the time of this writ- 
ing, Dec. 4, 1907, Mrs. Sprague and I are occupying 
rooms at Mrs. Matteson's home, and we have the op- 
portunity to meet and talk with her patients, as well 
as to take notes of what is transpiring. I am pleased 
to say that I hear only the greatest praise of this good 
woman and her work from all her patients. She is at 
this time making an average of more than fifty exam- 
inations per day. There are at this moment, fifteen 
people in the room waiting for examinations, and she 
closes her work for the day in one hour. Let us rea- 
son together a moment kind reader ; especially should 
we do so if you chance to be a skeptic in regard to 
spirit power and clairvoyance. Mrs. Matteson has 
been exercising this heaven-born faculty in the city of 
Buffalo constantly for thirty-five years, and in her 
present quarters for twenty-six years. She has never 
solicited patients by advertising in the city press. The 
only advertising of that kind she has ever received was 
furnished her by the doctors who have labored in vain 
in past years to stop her practice, but who long ago 
gave it up as an impossibility ; many of them now are 
her staunch friends. I ask, if all of this could be accom- 
plished unless her work was genuine and valuable? I 
could write a volume upon her work alone, and every 
line of it would bring proof of my claim of "A Future 
Life Demonstrated." 

Thousands of people have been led to the light 
through this unassuming and kind little lady. Every 
sitter gets a test — a proof of the truth of clairvoyance 
— and many through her ministrations have been led 
to study and investigate the subject of modern Spirit- 
ualism further, and finally to become good Spiritual- 
ists. 

Mrs. Matteson was entranced the first time she ever 
sat in a seance. She developed her powers by sitting 
regularly each week for seven years in Spiritualist 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 307 

seances. She has a daughter, Nellie Whitcomb, who 
is also a medium for the diagnosis of disease, and has 
been a faithful and loyal helper, looking after the bus- 
iness part of the work through all these years of her 
mother's public ministrations. 

Mrs. Matteson is always active in works of charity. 
She has given freely of her valuable time as well as 
of her money to the support of the Spiritualist move- 
ment — the National, State and local organizations — 
and is constantly assisting the needy on every hand, 
ministering to the unfortunate and poor as well as to 
those who are sick. Long live this good and gifted 
woman ! 

Ignorant people, and our wilful opponents some- 
times ask: "What good has Spiritualism done in the 
world anyway?'' If these unfortunate people will 
spend a little time in the conscientious investigation of 
Mrs. Matteson's work, they will be ashamed to ever 
ask that question again. 

Modern Spiritualism has many wonderful medical 
clairvoyants, some of whom are quietly working in 
private while others, such as Dr. J. M. Peebles, of 
Battle Creek, Mich.; Dr. J. C. Batdorf, of Grand 
Rapids, Mich. ; Mrs. Dr. Dobson Barker, of San Jose, 
Cal., and many others, are working in public ; through 
them the spirit-friends are daily performing what were 
called miracles in the days of Moses and Jesus, but 
which modern Spiritualism has discovered are pro- 
duced through natural law, by spirit forces. 

An Old Bible Confiscated. 
At a public seance, held January 7, 1907, under the 
auspices of The First Association of Spiritualists, of 
Washington, D. C, Mrs. Sprague. while giving mes- 
sages, turned to a stranger and said: "Madam, there 
is a spirit here who wishes to communicate with you." 
After giving a full and clear description of the spirit, 
she continued: "This spirit is your sister and she 
comes to thank vou for vour kindness to those she left 



308 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

behind." She says: "You have been so good, and 
have done so much for my darlings. I will do all in 
my power to bless you in return. When you come to 
meet me in heaven you will receive your reward for 
all of your kindness to me and to mine. God bless 
you, my dear sister." And the dear spirit withdrew. 

Mrs. Sprague continued by describing another spirit 
which she designated as this lady's mother, and said : 
"She tells me that at the age of eighteen years you 
passed through a terrible experience which none of us 
will ever forget, for we all suffered more than words 
can describe," etc. "Madam," there seems to have 
been great excitement. There were great financial 
losses and other trouble." To all of this the lady 
nodded her assent and Mrs. Sprague continued : "Your 
spirit mother now shows me a large old-fashioned 
Bible. It is very old. The cover is worn and 
cracked ; the leaves are yellow with age and the print 
large and coarse. She directs my attention to a fam- 
ily record within. I see the names written there. 
They are written in an old-fashioned hand-writing. 
The print is of a very old style and your mother says 
this Bible was an heir-loom in the family for many 
years. She brings this as a proof of her presence to- 
day. Do you recognize it madam? do you recognize 
all else we have' given you ? and are you a stranger to 
me? Kindly tell the audience." 

The lady stated that she was an entire stranger to 
Mrs. Sprague, and that everything she had told her 
was correct. That the old Bible was her mother's 
and it was a good test. 

After the meeting I interviewed the lady and 
learned that her name was Mrs. Frances Swan-Will- 
iams ; that she belonged to the Swan family of Vir- 
ginia, one of the oldest and wealthiest families in the 
state. That their slaves and other property was con- 
fiscated, the contents of the home was carried away by 
the federal soldiers, and with the other things, that old 
Bible that Mrs. Spragne had described. She said it 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 309 

was an heir-loom two hundred years old; that' Mrs. 
Sprague's description of it was perfect even to the 
family register in which the names of the family had 
been written for two centuries. She also said: "My 
mother was greatly grieved over the loss of it; and 
she could not have referred to anything that would 
have been more convincing of her presence. 

In speaking of the spirit sister who manifested to 
her through Mrs. Sprague, she said: "My sister died 
and left four little children and I raised them all and 
raised them well. I am more thankful for this experi- 
ence this evening than words can tell. I want to see 
you people and talk with you about it." 

How sweet it is to know that our loved ones can see 
and know what we do for them, and that they know 
our motives too. More particularly sweet is this when 
we know that we are doing right, and that our mo- 
tives are good. The above spirit message, like hun- 
dreds of thousands of others will stand as proof pos- 
itive of the truth of Spiritualism and "A Future Life 
Demonstrated." 

Tests Given in Pittsburg Church. 

We served the First Spiritualist Church of Pitts- 
burg, Pa., during the month of March, 1907, holding- 
services in their lovely temple. Mr. C. L. Stevens, 
their honored president presiding. Our work was 
highly appreciated ; there was a good attendance at 
our services as well as at the Young People's Meeting 
which was held every Sunday afternoon. This 
church has a ladies' aid society that is doing a grand 
work, and a fine Children's lyceum, which constitutes 
a complete outfit for a Spiritualist Temple. 

On the evening of March 3, while I was acting as 
message medium, among many others we gave the fol- 
lowing tests of spirit power. We said : "There is a 
spirit here who gives the name of Everett and shows 
us the letter A as the initial of the first name." "I rec- 
ognize the name," said a lady in the audience. Con- 



310 A F I ! T URE LIFE DEMON STRATED. 

tinuiny, we said : "This spirit now gives me the full 
name ; it is Albert Everett. Now I have a vision. I 
see an old-fashioned house. The back of it is painted 
red. There are some large cherry trees there. I see 
a swing in the trees. There is a girl in the swing, and 
along comes a boy who begins pushing the girl in the 
swing. Now he is swinging her so hard that she goes 
away up into the boughs of the trees. There is a 
snapping sound ; the rope swing breaks, the girl falls 
to the ground and is injured in her left side. Is this 
in your life, madam?" She shook her head and the 
lady sitting right behind her said : "That is for me, 
sir." "Yes, madam," said we, "the spirit says it is 
for you, that the girl in the swing was yourself, and 
this happened when you were a little girl." "Yes, 
sir," said .she, "that happened when I was a little girl, 
and the boy who pushed me was Albert Everett, the 
person you have named." "Yes, and he is now a spirit 
and has shown me this vision to prove his presence and 
to identify himself to you. Madam, is it true that 
when the swing broke and you fell to the ground your 
left side was injured by the fall?" we asked. "Yes, 
sir, it is perfectly true, and so is the reading true in 
every detail. The house, painted red; the large cherry 
trees to which the swing was attached ; the boy Albert 
Everett pushing me until the swing broke and let me 
fall to the ground. It is remarkable how you get 
everything so accurate," said the lady. At the close 
of the meeting I was introduced to this lady. Her 
name was Mrs. Steele. 

Another reading followed the above in which we 
pointed to a young gentleman and said: "As I come 
in contact with you I hear the rumbling noise of ma- 
chinery. You are working in a place where there is 
machinery. You are a natural mechanic. You 
learned your trade without serving an apprenticeship. 
You 'picked it up' as is said. You have inventive gen- 
ius, and, it may be turned to good account, both for 
the good of mankind and for your own benefit if you 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 311 

seek to develop it. There is a spirit here who gives 
me the name of William B. In earth life he was a 
mechanic and an inventor. He now sees, from the 
standpoint of a spirit, the possibilities that lie in yon, 
and he wishes to help you to develop them." 

"Now, my friend," said we, "let us ask you a few 
questions." 

Question — "Are we strangers to each other?" 

Answer — "I never saw you before." 

O. — "Are you a machinist?" 

A.— "I am." 

O. — "Did you learn your trade without serving an 
apprenticeship ?" 

A.— "I did. I picked it up very quickly." 

0. — "Do you think you have inventive genius?" 

A. — "I have invented a few things." 

Q. — "Do you know the spirit William B. whose 
name I gave and whom I described?" 

A. — "No, sir. I never knew such a man." 

At the close of the meeting the young man, his wife 
and a friend of theirs came and introducing them- 
selves, again corroborated the tests with the exception 
that the gentleman did not know who the spirit Will- 
iam B. might be. But his friend, Airs. Wilkins who 
was also a stranger to me, said the description was a 
perfect one of William Bamfield the deceased owner 
of the tin mills with whom she was well acquainted 
and that he was a genius in mechanics. The young 
man gave me his card on which is printed the name of 
Frank C. Dautermann. 

The above are the plain simple facts taken from my 
diary. If they do not mean what we claim for them, 
what do they mean? The readers must each one de- 
termine for himself. Spiritualists can easily under- 
stand their meaning:. 



312 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Mrs. Sprague's Good Work in Philadelphia, Pa., 
Belding and Port Huron, Mich. 

Mrs. Sprague has given readings from names which 
were given hy persons in the audiences in many places 
where we have been, and if she ever made a failure in 
reading correctly the one named, it has never reached 
my ears. 

At Belding, Mich., while assisting in a state mass 
meeting, held on Jan. 19, 1908, Mrs. Sprague asked 
that some member of the audience speak the name of 
some one living in the earth life, saying she would pre- 
fer some one who was known to the people present. 

The name of William C. Spicer was given, and she 
said: "There is great excitement around this gentle- 
man. He is what in business circles is called "a 
hustler." He is a worker, employs people, and he 
wants them to work also. (Laughter.) He has more 
on his mind than any one excepting himself knows. 
He has many friends ; is a good and enterprising citi- 
zen ; is genial, good natured, good company ; a favor- 
ite among his associates ; a great lover of children, and 
his home is his heaven. Altogether he is a pretty good 
man." Then turning to the right of the hall she se- 
lected a gentleman and asked if he was the one she 
was reading. "Yes," said he, "I am the man," and 
the audience applauded. 

Mrs. Sprague asked the gentleman if he was a 
stranger to her, and if he thought the reading was 
correct. He declared that it was entirely correct, and 
the lady who sat beside him sanctioned his statement. 
Following this Mrs. Sprague gave many tests of spirit 
presence and power. 

Port Huron, Michigan. 

At Port Huron, Mich., Feb. 16, 1908, at the Mid- 
winter Spiritualist meeting held under the auspices of 
the Michigan State Spiritualists' Association, Mrs. 
Sprague followed my lecture with spirit messages and 
tests. Her success was great and could not well be 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 313 

surpassed. She gave readings for three-quarters of 
an hour, and all of them were given to entire strangers, 
many of them were startling and all were convincing". 
Every statement was recognized and verified at once. 
First she asked that some one speak the name of 
some person living — one with whom those present 
were acquainted — and she would read from the name. 
A name was given and she read the character of the 
gentleman giving the disposition, temperament, telling 
in what ways he resembled his father, and his mother 
in personal appearance, in his likes and dislikes, his 
tastes, etc. She gave several dates in his life — one 
date of the death of a lady who was dear to him, de- 
scribing her. Mrs. Sprague told him of a great finan- 
cial loss, describing his business partner in the trans- 
action, and stated that the partner got the money and 
left him with the experience. After giving him many 
more tests she selected the gentleman for whom she 
had been reading, out of that large audience, and he 
himself declared that her statements were all correct. 
This was a great test, and was the means of getting 
the people deeply interested which was one of the 
requisites for the splendid seance which followed. 

Some of the subjects Mrs. Sprague selected, others 
arose and asked for readings. She talked rapidly and 
her tests were given in a pleasant and happy mood. 
Sometimes they were so pathetic as to call forth tears 
from the recipients, at other times they provoked laugh- 
ter and applause from the audience. She gave many 
names, several were full names. One given to a 
young couple who sat on the front seat was "George 
Lincoln." She told the gentleman that he was his 
spirit brother, that their spirit father came also, and 
gave them tests regarding their home surroundings, 
she spoke of a developing circle they were holding, 
told of the results they were getting", etc. All she gave 
them as verified at once. 

To Mr. William Drake who was an entire stranger 
to her, Mrs. Sprague turned and asked if he would 



:>1 I A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

like to have her read for him. He replied in the affirm- 
ative and she proceeded to give him a long" reading de- 
scribing several of his spirit friends, giving a number 
of their names, etc. Among other tests brought by the 
spirits to prove their identity was a very funny inci- 
dent. Mrs. Sprague described a light spring wagon 
drawn by a gray horse, and said : "You will remem- 
ber this experience ; it was indelibly impressed upon 
you. You remember well that gray kicking horse you 
had. I see you driving it sitting in the light wagon I 
have described. Suddenly there is a great commotion ; 
the horse is kicking ; his head is down between his fore 
legs, and his heels are in the air ; the dashboard and 
front of the wagon are being reduced to slivers and 
flying in the direction of the back end of the wagon, 
some of the pieces in close proximity to your head, 
while you disappear over the back end of the wagon." 
It was a ludicrous scene that she pictured and caused 
much merriment among the members of the audience, 
but it served as a proof of the presence of the spirit 
who was seeking to identify himself by showing Mrs. 
Sprague this laughable incident of which she could 
not have had the slightest knowledge. The fact that 
the spirit when in earth life knew all about it, caused 
it to serve as a positive proof of the identity of the 
communicating spirit. 

It may be said that spirits should be in better busi- 
ness than bringing such ridiculous and frivolous 
things. I think they are perfectly legitimate and 
proper. These things are used to prove the truth of 
spirit return and the individuality of the controlling 
spirit. It will hardly do for our Christian opponent^ 
to scoff at such manifestations, since their reputed 
"Men of God" did similar things to prove that it was 
the '"Almighty" who was operating through them. For 
instance : Did God, the "Almighty'' operating through 
the mediumship of Elisha bring the ax from the bot- 
tom of the river for a "sign" or a test, or a proof that 
Me was operating through him? (2 Kings vi, 5, 
C>, 7.) 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 315 

Read Isaiah xx, Chap. 2 and 3 verses. It states that 
the Lord caused Isaiah to walk three years ''naked and 
barefoot for a sign and wonder." I cannot quite un- 
derstand how it could be a "sign" of his being a true 
prophet, but it certainly would be a "wonder." Me- 
diums were led to do many and stranger things in 
those days, if the records are true, than they are now- 
adays. The spirit friends have always used every 
means to prove their presence and power. This seance 
at Port Huron was grand and beautiful in its messages 
of love and tenderness. I regret having carelessly 
neglected to record them in my journal. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



A Remarkable Dream Comes True — Fine Tests in 
Philadelphia, Pa. — Anniversary Services in St. 
Louis, Mo. — "Only Ignorant People Laugh at 
Spiritualism," Says a Presbyterian Minister — 
Rev. Dr. Adam Clark Declares He Believes in 
Spirit Return — Rev. John Wesley, Founder of the 
Methodist Church, a Believer in Spirit Return and 
Also Visits Trance Mediums — Who Is the Better 
Witness, the Medium or the Scientist? 

A Remarkable Dream Comes True. 

In the year 1892 we were living in Jamestown, N. 
Y.. in an apartment house in which our friends Mr. 
and Mrs. Stewart occupied a suite of rooms. On 
Sunday morning June 5th Mrs. Stewart came down- 
stairs and related to us a terrible dream she had the 
night before. She was greatly concerned over it and 
felt she must tell it to some one in the hope of getting 
relief. She said she dreamed that she received word 



316 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

her sister, Mrs. Ella Roche, of Oil City, Pa., was dead; 
that she went to her and found her lying in a coffin 
prepared for burial. She also learned that her sister's 
husband, Mr. John Roche, was in bed, and as she 
approached him he reached up his hands to her and 
said : "Oh, Minnie ! what will become of my poor 
little boys now that Ella has gone?" Mrs. Stewart 
assured him that she would care for them; then her 
sister arose from the coffin and drew Mrs. Stewart 
close to her pulling her so hard that the fright awoke 
her to find it was only a terrible dream. Mrs. Sprague 
told her in a joking way that some people believed that 
if one dreamed a dream on Saturday night and told it 
on Sunday morning before breakfast, it would surely 
come to pass. The dream cast a condition of depres- 
sion over Mrs. Stewart, and I quoted the saying that 
"Dreams always go by contraries." 

That same day, Sunday, June 5, 1892, at 11 :45 
o'clock a. m., the terrible fire and flood occurred at Oil 
City, Pa., in which many homes and other property 
were destroyed, fifty lives lost and many persons in- 
jured. 

The fire was caused by the bursting of a large iron 
tank filled with naphtha situated two miles above the 
city on Oil creek, and its contents floated all the way 
down through the heart of the city into the Allegheny 
river past the town, after which it exploded with ter- 
rific force and with terrible destruction. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stewart received a telegram notifying 
them of the death of her sister, Mrs. Roche and her 
little two-year-old daughter Ida, on the same day of 
the accident. 

Mr. John Roche, Mrs. Stewart's brother-in-law, was 
also badly burned. The flood was so great in that part 
of the country that railway bridges were washed away 
and much damage was done to the roadbeds. Mr. 
and Mrs. Stewart, in order to reach Oil City, were 
obliged to take a livery team and go across the country 
in a wagon. The roads were terrible and they had to 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 317 

ford numerous streams as the flood had carried away 
the bridges. The distance was about seventy-five 
miles, and it took them some time to reach there. 
Mrs. Stewart told us that when they arrived there she 
found her sister lying in a coffin just as she saw her in 
her dream, and when she went and saw her brother-in- 
law, John Roche, who had been taken to the hospital, 
he reached up his hands to her and said : "Oh, Min- 
nie ! what will become of my poor little boys now that 
Ella has gone?" using the very words and reaching 
his hands in the same manner as he did in her dream. 

The above stated facts have great significance as 
evidence of a future life. Some invisible intelligence 
certainly conveyed this fore-gleam of future events to 
Mrs. Stewart's consciousness, and she retained it after 
awaking from her sleep. Let us consider the facts in 
the case. 

First — It is certain that Mrs. Stewart could have 
had no knowledge of the disaster, as it had not yet 
occurred. 

Second — Some intelligence must have possessed this 
fore-knowledge or it could not have been impressed 
upon Mrs. Stewart's consciousness. 

Third — It could not possibly be attributed to coin- 
cidence as the details are too numerous and definite. 
Let us note some of them : 

1st. Mrs. Stewart dreamed that her sister was dead 
and she died. 

2nd. She saw her sister in the coffin in her dream, 
and she afterwards saw her in the coffin when she was 
awake. 

3rd. She saw her brother-in-law in the hospital bed 
in her dream, and she saw him in the hospital bed 
when she was awake. 

4th. He lifted up his hands to her in the dream, and 
he did the same when she saw him when awake. 

5th. She dreamed that he spoke to her and said : 
"O Minnie ! what will become of my poor little boys, 
now that Ella has gone?" and he repeated these very 
words when she did meet him in Oil City. 



318 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Who or what was it that foretold the death of this 
dear woman to her sister, Mrs. Stewart, when they 
were seventy-five miles apart, and both were living and 
enjoying' good health? I cannot answer positively, 
but I do know that spirits of the so-called dead often 
foretell future events, and I believe it was spirits who 
impressed the result of this coming event, this terrible 
tragedy, upon the consciousness of Mrs. Stewart while 
her body was sleeping. 

The question naturally arises then, if it was spirits 
how did they know that it was to happen? How did 
they foresee it? As I said before, I do not know, 
though it is a fact that wise spirits do sometimes fore- 
tell the weather as well as other coming events. Pos- 
sibly it may be done by some process similar to the w r ay 
our weather bureau foretells the weather a few hours 
in advance, they, the spirits having access to facts now 
unknown to us. Though it would seem impossible as 
in this case to find out just who should be killed, who 
should survive and just the words that would be 
spoken by a certain one with all or many other little 
details. We do not know how the results of this dis- 
aster were foretold, but we do know that these and 
many other equally marvelous things have been fore- 
told. This being true, the question arises : was it to 
be? Was it destiny? Are we in the hands of fate? 
Must this terrible floor and fire come and cause such 
dire distress? If this is the case what is the use of 
fighting against any calamity since we must abide by 
the decree of fate ? I cannot decide whether fate rules 
me, much less whether it rules the world. But let us 
not forget that there is an intelligence manifesting it- 
self from the invisible side of life that declares it is the 
spirits of our departed friends who are constantly fore- 
telling things equally as wonderful as these foretold in 
Mrs. Stewart's wonderfully prophetic dream. "Yea, 
and all the prophets from Samuel, * * * * have like- 
wise foretold of these days." (Acts iii, 24.) 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 319 

A Good Reading in Philadelphia. 

Philadelphia, Pa., Sunday evening, April 7, 1907. 

To a Mr. Eisele, of Philadelphia, Pa., who arose for 
a reading, Mrs. Sprague described a spirit lady, giving 
the color of her hair, eyes, age in life, etc., and then 
gave a beautiful message from this spirit. It was 
given in verse. After this she told him that he was a 
medium, that he was sitting for development, that he 
was sitting in the darkness when he should sit in the 
light ; that he ought not to sit for physical phenomena 
as he had but little of that phase of mediumship ; that 
he did get raps but as yet could not systematize them 
so as to get intelligent messages through them. She 
advised him to sit in the light and for mental phases, 
and said he would develop them rapidly. She closed 
by saying: "This spirit brings a beautiful white lily 
which symbolizes her name." 

Mr. Eisele was a stranger to Mrs. Sprague, and 
when she concluded the reading, he arose and verified 
all she had told him, and said he recognized the spirit 
she had described whose name was Lily. 

Anniversary Services in St. Louis, Mo. 

I was called to St. Louis, Mo., to assist in the cele- 
bration of the Sixtieth Anniversary of Modern Spirit- 
ualism. The services were held in the beautiful Spir- 
itualist Temple, at No. 3015 Pine street. Rev. Thomas 
Grimshaw, formerly of England, has been the very 
efficient pastor of the Spiritualist Temple Society for 
the last ten years. 

The anniversary celebration began Sunday morning, 
March 29. 1908. Three meetings were held on the 
opening day. and two services each day following, 
closing the meeting on Wednesday evening. 

On Sunday afternoon the children of the Temple 
Progressive Lyceum entertained the large audience 
with solos, duets and quartets, together with declam- 
ations, recitations, dialogues, flag drills, wing move- 



320 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

mcnts, silver chain recitations and responsive readings. 
Their work was beautiful and inspiring-. 

The choir numbered some thirty members, and 
under the efficient leadership of Mrs. C. C. Hard- 
castle, who also presided at the magnificent pipe organ, 
the finest of music both vocal and instrument was fur- 
nished to the delight of all, while its harmonizing in- 
fluence produced the best of conditions for speakers 
and mediums. 

Miss Lizzie Harlow, Rev. Thomas Grimshaw and 
E. W. Sprague were the speakers of the occasion, and 
Mrs. Laura M. Jones, Mrs. K. T. Harry, Mrs. Effie 
Donelson, Mrs. Tarlotting, Mrs. Ellis and E. W. 
Sprague were the message mediums. Large and ap- 
preciative audiences were in attendance and the work 
of the speakers and test mediums was of the best. 

I will record but three of the messages and tests 
given at these meetings, for the simple reason that 
they are the only ones that I noted down at the time. 
They are by no means the best that were given ; many 
others were stronger and more pointed. There were 
hundreds of tests given in this series of meetings, and 
probably not a half dozen of them were not recognized 
and verified. 

First. — One evening after describing a spirit I gave 
the name of "Mary Saunders," and said : "She comes 
to some one whose name is Allen." I waited for a 
response and hearing none I repeated the name and 
said: "This spirit has a friend in this audience by the 
name of Allen." No one responded and we passed it 
by and continued, giving many messages and tests. 
When we finished our work Mrs. Jones was presented, 
and after she had given a few messages she also gave 
the name of "Mary Saunders," and she located the 
gentleman, Mr. Allen, to whom the spirit came and 
he recognized the spirit and verified the message. 

We described the spirit and gave her name, also 
the name of the one with whom she wished to com- 
municate ; and Mrs. Jones, following me, gave the 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 321 

name of the spirit, located the man to whom the spirit 
came giving his name also and then delivered the 
spirit's message. Air. Allen was a stranger to both 
mediums. 

I cannot tell why the gentleman did not recognize 
or acknowledge the spirit when she came to me. It 
is probable that he was too much overcome with 
emotion to speak, as is sometimes the case. However, 
the test thus given through two mediums shows the 
persistency of the spirit in trying to operate upon 
both mediums, neither of which were sufficiently 
susceptible to her influence to be perfectly used to 
voice her message. 

Second. — We gave the full name of a spirit and took 
the hand of a gentleman in a front seat when the spirit 
controlling me said : ''My dear friend, I greet you 
from my spirit home. I come to-night to thank you 
for the kind assistance you gave me in my hour of 
greatest need. You were so good and kind to me in 
my last moments. Your kindly assistance was such a 
relief to me in my passing to spirit life. I shall be at 
your side to reciprocate your great kindness to me 
when you shall be called to spirit life. God bless you. 
Farewell until that day." 

Third. — The spirit of a sweet little boy dressed in a 
sailor suit stepped up in front of us and gave the name 
of "Frankie" and said: " 'Scribe me, please. 'Scribe 
me, please." We gave the dear little fellow's name and 
a fine description of his appearance, and indicating 
with my right hand said : "He comes to some one on 
this side of the house." A gentleman, Mr. J. F. Curts, 
who was sitting in the back part of the church on the 
side we had indicated raised his hand, when the spirit 
said : "Yes, papa, I come to you" ; then overcome with 
emotion the spirit ceased to speak, not being able to 
complete his message. But another spirit whom we 
described entranced me and gave the message for little 
Frankie. Among other things, he told his papa that 
he came through me, a stranger, so he would know it 



0Z4 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

was his own little boy Frankic. It was a beautiful and 
touching manifestation and reminds one of the tender 
and inspiring words of the gentle Nazarene who said : 
"Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid 
them not, for of such is the kingdom of God." (Luke 
xviii., 16.) 

I remained in St. Louis to complete my engagement, 
assisting friend Grimshaw in the two services Sunday, 
April 5th, and we both attended and assisted in the 
anniversary services held by the society, of which Mrs. 
K. T. Harry is pastor. Good work is being done in 
St. Louis by these and several other societies. 

"Only Ignorant People Laugh at Spiritualism," 
Says a Presbyterian Minister. 

It was reported that in the month of April, 1901, 
Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Milburn severed his pastorate with 
the Second Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, Ind., 
and in the course of his farewell address said : "They 
are forming a sect called Spiritualists. You can't 
laugh at Spiritualism. Only shallow people laugh at 
Spiritualism. Only ignorant people laught at Spirit- 
ualism. The thoughtful man no longer laughs at the 
Spiritualist. That man is reaching for a truth beyond 
the truth that he can find within the boundaries of the 
visible church." 

When this sermon was preached a great and sacred 
truth emanamted from the orthodox pulpit. 

Rev. Dr. Adam Clark Declares He Believes in 
Spirit Return. 

Rev. Dr. Adam Clark, the author of "Clark's Bible 
Commentaries," which are accepted as authority 
among Christians of every Christian country, on 
pages 298 and 299, of his work, says: "I believe 
there is a supernatural and spiritual world, in which 
human spirits, both good and bad, live in a state of 
consciousness. T believe that any of these spirits 
may, according to the order of God, in the laws of 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 323 

their place of residence, have intercourse with this 
world, and become visible to mortals. I believe 
Samuel did actually appear to Saul and that he was 
sent to warn this infatuated king of his approaching 
death, that he might have an opportunity to make his 
peace with his Maker." 

This is good Spiritualism, though emanating from 
one holding an exalted position in the Christian world 
and in the Methodist Church in particular. But 1 
will quote another Christian authority. 

Rev. John Wesley, Founder of Methodism, a Be- 
liever in Spirit Return, and Also Visited 
Trance Mediums. 

It is stated upon good authority that many pass- 
ages in the writings of the Rev. John Wesley, founder 
of Methodism, referring to spirit communion have 
been eliminated from the later editions of his works. 

In one of those earlier editions, now in the Con- 
gressional library at Washington, D. C, we found 
many statements made by Rev. John Wesley, which 
proved that he believed in spirit return and com- 
munication with men in the mortal form. 

The following quotations are from Vol. IV., page 
279 to 286, John Wesley's Works: 

"Wednesday, 25, and the following days, being at 
Sunderland, I received from one who had feared God 
from her infancy one of the strangest accounts I ever 
read; and yet I can find no pretense to disbelieve it." 
(Therefore he believed it.) "The well-known char- 
acter of the person excludes all suspicion of fraud ; 
and the nature of the circumstances themselves ex- 
cludes the possibility of a delusion. It is true there 
are several of them which I do not comprehend ; but 
this is, with me, a very slender objection ; for what 
is it which I do comprehend, even of the things I see 
daily? Truly not the smallest grain of sand, or spire 
of grass. I know not how the one grows, or how tha 
particles of the other cohere together. What pre- 



32 1 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

tense have 1 then to deny well-attested facts because 
1 cannot comprehend them? It is true likewise, that 
the English in general, and indeed most of the men 
of learning in Europe, have given up all accounts of 
witches and apparitions, as mere old wives' fables. 
I am sorry for it; and I willingly take this oppor- 
tunity of entering my solemn protest against this vio- 
lent compliment which so many that believe the Bible 
pay to those who do not believe it. I owe them no 
such service. I take knowledge, these are at the bot- 
tom of the outcry which has been raised, and with 
such insolence spread throughout the nation, in direct 
opposition not only to the Bible, but to the suffrage 
of the wisest and best of men in all ages and nations. 
They well know (whether Christians know it or not), 
that the giving up witchcraft is, in effect, giving up 
the Bible ; and they know, on the other hand, that if 
but one account of the intercourse of men with sep- 
arate spirits be admitted, their whole castle in the 
air (Deism, Atheism, Materialism) falls to the 
ground. I know no reason, therefore, why we should 
suffer even this weapon to be wrested out of our 
hands. Indeed there are numerous arguments be- 
sides, which abundantly confute their vain imagina- 
tions. But we need not be hooted out of one ; neither 
reason nor religion require this." 

Page 280: 

"I proceed to as remarkable a narrative as any that 
has fallen under my notice. The reader may believe 
it if he pleases, or may disbelieve it, without any 
offense to me. Meantime let him not be offended if 
I believe it, till I see better reason to the contrary." 

"I. Elizabeth Hobson was born in Sunderland, in 
the year 1744. Her father dying when she was three 
or four years old, her uncle, Thomas Rea, a pious 
man, brought her up as his own daughter. She was 
serious from a child, and grew up in the fear of God. 
Yet she had deep and sharp convictions of sin, till 
she was about sixteen years of age, when she found 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 325 

peace with God, and from that time the whole tenor 
of her behavior was suitable to her profession. " 

"On Wednesday, May 25, 1768, and the three fol- 
lowing days, I talked with her at large ; but it was with 
great difficulty I prevailed on her to speak. The 
substance of what she said was as follows" 

Page 283: 

"12. A little before Michaelmas, 1763, my brother 
George, who was a good young man, went to sea. 
The day after Michaelmas-day, about midnight, T 
saw him standing by my bedside, surrounded with a 
glorious light, and looking earnestly at me. He was 
wet all over. That night the ship in which he sailed 
split upon a rock, and all the crew were drowned." 

"13. On April 9th, 1767, about midnight I was 
lying awake, and I saw my brother John standing by 
my bedside. Just at that time he died in Jamaica." 

"14. By his death I became entitled to a house in 
Sunderland, which was left us by my grandfather, 
John Hobson." 

In commenting upon the above Mr. Wesley says : 
"So, a spirit finds no difficulty in traveling three or 
four thousand miles in a moment." 

"I know that those who fashionably deny the ex- 
istence of spirits are hugely disgusted at accounts of 
this kind. I know that they incessantly labor to 
spread this disgust among those that are of a better 
mind : because if one of these accounts be admitted, 
their whole system falls to the ground. But who- 
ever is pleased or displeased, I must testify what I 
believe to be the truth." 

John Wesley Visits Trance Mediums. 

In John Wesley's Journal of August 6, 1759, page 
42, he says : "I talked largely with Ann Thorn, and 
two others who had been several times in trances. 
What they agreed in was : 

"1st. — That when they went away, as they termed 



326 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

it, it was always at a time they were fullest of the 
love of God. 

"2d. — That it came upon them in a moment, with- 
out any previous notice, and took away all their 
senses and strength. 

"3d. — That there were some exceptions ; but in gen- 
eral from that moment they were in another world, 
knowing nothing of what was done or said by all that 
were round about them." 

Now regarding our claims : 

1st. — John Wesley believed in spirit return. This is 
proved by his own statements that he believed the 
statements of Elizabeth Hobson, that the spirits of her 
two brothers appeared to her before anyone knew that 
they had passed away, each coming immediately after 
leaving the body. 

2d. — John Wesley visited trance mediums. The 
statement made by him, written in his Journal, written 
with his own hand, is that he "talked largely" (mean- 
ing a great deal) "with Ann Thorn and two others 
who had been several times in trances." Here he ex- 
plains what they told him about how the trances came 
upon them, and learned considerable about their ex- 
experiences. 

This proves the second proposition, namely : That 
John Wesley visited trance mediums. 

Two things are worthy of note : Elizabeth Hobson 
saw her brother George "surrounded with a glorious 
light." Modern mediums have this experience daily. 
"And he was wet all over." This is also the way 
modern mediums see those who were drowned. It is 
a very common thing with us, and this is still another 
proof of her mediumship. 

The Founder of Methodism deals a crushing blow to 
"those who fashionably deny the existence of spirits," 
and he hits a certain class of Methodists who oppose 
the investigation of Modern Spiritualism, visiting 
mediums, etc. 

He shows his independence of character as well as 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 327 

his honesty when he says : "But, whoever is pleased 
or displeased, I must testify what I believe to be the 
truth." That suits me. I believe in speaking the truth 
without fear or favor, though the heavens fall and 
"Society" and "Mother Grundy" are crushed by the 
fall. John Wesley was also wise enough to see that 
"If but one account of the intercourse of separate 
spirits" (individual spirits) "be admitted, their whole 
castle in the air (Deism, Atheism, and Materialism) 
falls to the ground." This is the claim Spiritualists 
have been making for the last sixty years ; and it was 
as true in John Wesley's time as it is now, and as true 
now as it was then. Mr. Wesley wanted to hold on to 
the fact of spirit communion, as he realized that it was 
the strongest weapon that could be used to win the 
fight against all opposition to the teachings of a future 
life for mankind. He realized that Materialism could 
not withstand "A Future Life Demonstrated" by the 
return and communion of the spirits of those who have 
reached the higher life. 

Thus we prove from John Wesley's own writings 
that he believed in spirit return, and that he visited 
trance mediums. In this a good example is set by the 
founder of Methodism for all of his millions of fol- 
lowers. Will they follow his example? Only a com- 
paratively few will embrace the opportunity to do so 
until Modern Spiritualism becomes more "popular" 
and has overcome some of the arbitrary, dominating 
power of "Society." Meanwhile, Spiritualism and 
Spiritualists will continue to enlighten humanity and 
to bless the world. 

Who is the Better Witness, the Medium or the 
Scientist? 

Who is the most reliable witness relative to the truth 
of spirit return, the Scientist who only knows what he 
witnesses as it is produced through the medium, or the 
medium himself through whom the phenomena is pro- 
duced? 



328 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Does the scientist whose life is spent in the realm of 
physical demonstration know more about spirit man- 
ifestations, the cause producing' them, and of medium- 
ship, than the medium through whom the phenomena 
is constantly being produced, and especially the spirits 
themselves who claim to produce the phenomena, and 
who explain how they produce it? 

Scientists of the Thomson J. Hudson class assume 
to know all about the cause producing spirit phe- 
nomena and egotistically parade their newly found 
scientific ( ?) discoveries to the world, at the same time 
utterly ignoring the opinions and conclusions of the 
mediums and the spirits who operate through them. 
Have the mediums learned nothing from their personal 
conscious experience with the spirit friends, and from 
their familiarity with the phenomena produced through 
their own organisms? Are the opinions of the mediums 
ever considered in the reports of this class of scien- 
tists? Are they not utterly ignored? 

The class of scientists mentioned usually base their 
conclusions regarding the phenomena of Modern 
Spiritualism, upon the little they are able to compre- 
hend from their own limited and materialistic stand- 
point, together with the great volumes of prejudice 
which they possess and egotistically tell the world con- 
cerning their wonderful discoveries, each one of which 
usually contradicts every other so-called scientific dis- 
covery made by their fellow scientists. Such are the 
results obtained in the investigation of Modern Spirit- 
ualism by some of the wold-be-popular scientists. 

There are some quacks in the ranks of science as 
well as among Spiritualists. The truth of the matter 
is that the good judgment of the mediums is much 
more valuable as evidence of what produces the phe- 
nomena, than the judgment of those who are not 
mediums could possibly be, and for the simple reason 
that they come in much closer relations with the cause 
that produces them and have better opportunity, ample 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 329 

time, and greater facilities for carefully investigating. 
studying and analyzing them. 

To one who has been the instrument or medium used 
by spirits to prove their presence to thousands of 
people, who has heard the spirit voices, seen their faces, 
been inspired by them, been entranced by them, who 
different ways for many years, — to such a one the 
has personated and proved their presence in a hundred 
conclusions of some investigators, and especially of 
such scientists as Prof. Thomson J. Hudson who at- 
tempts to explain the phenomena of Modern Spirit- 
ualism by the assumed theory of "subconscious mind," 
certainly appears ridiculous and pitiful. His unheard 
of and pseudo-scientific conclusions, like all others of 
the same class, were based upon what he did not know 
because of his lack of experience as a medium. If he 
had been a well-developed medium he would have 
understood why his theory was not correct and could 
not stand the test. 

The medium possesses a knowledge regarding tins 
particular question that the scientist, who is not a 
medium, cannot possibly secure. It is as impossible 
for one who is not a medium to understand what I am 
referring to now as for a man born blind to know the 
meaning of color. Neither has the faculties developed 
with them to grasp their meaning. The medium sees 
with his spiritual eyes, while the non-medium is spirit- 
ually blind. "Spiritual things must be spiritually dis- 
cerned." The medium knows from self-conscious per- 
sonal experience received while communing with the 
spirits. He thus acquires knowledge through his own 
physical as well as his spiritual senses, while the non- 
medium scientist must judge from what reaches him 
through the instrumentality of the medium, and only 
that which his physical senses may discern. He can- 
not know what the medium feels, what he sees, what 
he senses from time to time, how he is made to know 
certain things which it is impossible for him to know 
only as they are revealed to him by spirit power 



330 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

through his spiritual faculties. The medium knows 
his own sensations, his own visions. He knows how 
the voices sound, to him, and how they become as 
familiar to him as the voice of his wife or his child. 
He gets acquainted with his spirit neighbors and 
knows each one by his looks, his voice, his presence. 
He knows how it feels to be touched by a spirit, how 
it affects him to receive a spirit message, and many 
other things he knows that one not a medium does 
not know, all of which is of the greatest importance 
in deciding the question of who or what is the author 
of the spirit messages. 

T. J. Hudson's great scientific ( ?) theory of the 
"subconscious mind" as the author of all spirit phe- 
nomena, mental and physical, in my humble judgment 
is as great a disgrace to true science as quack 
mediums are to Spiritualism. It would be quite as 
scientific, quite as reasonable, to tell a Sampson or a 
Dewey that he had never been on board a ship, that 
he had been driving camels on the great desert all of 
his life, as to tell a well-developed medium that spirit 
communication is not true, that all he sees, hears and 
receives as spirit messages are produced by his own 
"subconscious mind." SCIENTIFIC! Ye Gods! If 
it could be proved that the "subconscious mind" was 
the author of all the spirit communications, as Hud- 
son claims, that very proof would demonstrate posi- 
tively that the "subconscious mind" is a most de- 
praved, most degraded and unreliable thing; yea, is 
the most colossal liar, the worst deceiver and dis- 
honest cheat that ever set out to delude poor helpless 
human beings. This is so for this reason : whenever 
it communicates to us it "with malice aforethought" 
invariably states that it is the spirit of one who has 
lived in this world and passed through the change 
called death. It gives the name of some one who 
once lived on earth, often of one grieved for by some 
one present, and then proceeds to prove its identity 
by giving the date of this loved one's death; telling 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 331 

where and how the death occurred ; telling 1 of inci- 
dents and experiences often known only to the 
recipent ; and all this is done to prove the identity of 
the spirit it personates. What a gigantic deceiver! 
Alas ! alas ! that all the world should be in danger 
of coming in contact with this second-class orthodox 
devil — this terrible "subconscious mind," the evident 
invention and supposed discovery of a Christian who 
chanced to be a scientist, and who evidently thought to 
save the race from the "dire influence of Modern 
Spiritualism," to the benefit and upbuilding of the 
orthodox Christian religion. 

In my humble opinion it would be of great benefit to 
the above mentioned class of scientists if they would 
consult with some of our great scientists and learn of 
the long years of patient study and careful research 
which they have given in the realm of the spiritual 
phenomena and philosophy before placing their own 
silly theories and supposed great discoveries before 
the world. Every now and then a scientist comes for- 
ward with the claim that he has made the all-important 
discovery that the spirits of the dead return and com- 
municate, and with the announcement promises shortly 
to demonstrate "what has never been proved before," 
namely, "that there is a future life." In doing this 
these enthusiastic scientists utterly ignore all of the 
great scientists who have spent many years in the in- 
vestigation of Modern Spiritualism and in scientifically 
demonstrating its truth, and who long since have given 
the results of their investigations to the world in posi- 
tive declarations of their truth. And their statements 
always sustain our claim that "A Future Life is 
Demonstrated." 

Among such scientists may be mentioned the follow- 
ing, with brief extracts of their reported conclusions : 

Prof. A. R. Wallace, of England, the great naturalist 
and member of many scientific societies, says : "We 
are justified in taking the facts of Modern Spiritualism 
(and with them the only tenable one) as being fully 



332 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

established. Its whole course and history proclaim it 
to be neither imposture nor delusion, nor survival of 
beliefs of savages, but a great and important truth." 
Again, he says: "My position therefore is that the 
phenomena of Spiritualism in their entirety do not 
require further confirmation. They are proved quite 
as well as any facts are proved in other sciences, and 
it is not denial or quibbling that can disprove any of 
them." 

Dr. Elliott Coues, member of the National Academy 
of Sciences, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D. C, 
M. A., M. D., Ph. D. Norwich University, Johns Hop- 
kins University, a Spiritualist and a medium also, pub- 
lished an article in the Philadelphia Sunday Express, 
which was reproduced in The Progressive Thinker of 
Chicago of Jan. 20, 1900, in which he says : 

"I have myself seen ghosts of a good many dead 
persons. On several occasions I have been aware of 
the presence of the spiritual bodies of deceased persons 
who gave information that was not otherwise obtain- 
able, and who conveyed to my mind a conviction of 
their identity." 

Sir William Crookes, F. R. S., editor London Quar- 
terly Journal of Science, inventor of the Crookes 
Vacuum Tube which made possible the x-ray, and 
author of "Researches in the Phenomena of Spirit- 
ualism," says : 

"That certain physical phenomena, such as the move- 
ment of material substances, and the production of 
sounds resembling electric discharges, occur under cir- 
cumstances in which they cannot be explained by any 
physical law at present known is a fact of which I am 
as certain as I am of the most elementary facts in 
chemistry." 

Prof. Robert Hare, professor of chemistry in the 
University of Pennsylvania, graduate of Yale College 
and Harvard University, associate member of the 
Smithsonian Institute, member of various learned 
societies, and author of "Spiritualism Scientifically 
Demonstrated," says: 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 333 

"Far from abating my confidence in the inferences 
respecting the agencies of spirits of deceased mortals 
in the manifestations I have had even more striking 
evidences of those agencies than those given in the 
work in question." (Meaning his own work, "Spirit- 
ualism Scientifically Demonstrated.") 

Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F. R. S., Dr. Sc, LL. D., Prof. 
Physics University College, London, Eng., says: "I 
went in a state of skepticism as to the reality of phys- 
ical phenomena produced without apparent contact ; but 
this skepticism has been overborne by facts. If anyone 
cares to hear what sort of conviction has been borne in 
upon my mind, as a scientific man, by twenty years' 
familiarity with these questions which concern us, I 
am for all personal purposes convniced of the persist- 
ence of human existence beyond bodily death, and 
though I am unable to justify that belief in a full and 
complete manner, yet it is a belief which has been pro- 
duced by scientific evidence that is based upon facts 
and experience." ("Light of Truth," Sept. 2, 1905.) 

He further states that "Some of us have proofs that 
the individaulity persists after death, which are as cer- 
tain as proof can be." The latter was published in the 
Xew York Sun in a reply to an attack upon Dr. Funk, 
as stated by Hudson Tuttle in an article published in 
the "Sunflower" of Feb. 17, 1906. 

Prof. J. C. F. Zollner, professor of physical astron- 
omy at the University of Leipsic, Germany, member of 
the Royal Saxon Society of Sciences, author of 
"Transcendental Physics," etc., says: "We have ac- 
quired proof of the existence of the invisible world, 
which can enter into relations with humanity." 

Dr. Paul Gibier, director of the Pasteur Institute of 
Xew York, Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, in an 
essay upon "The Science of the Future," says : "The 
proof of a man's possessing a consciousness which sur- 
vives the change called death has been already estab- 
lished by the phenomena of Spiritualism." 

Prof. Camille Flamarion, the great French astron- 
omer, says : "I do not hesitate to affirm my convictions. 



33 ! A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

based on personal examination of the subject, that any 
scientific man who declares the phenomena denom- 
inated magnetic, somnambulic, mediumistic, and others 
not yet explained by science to be impossible, is one 
who speaks without knowing what he is talking about." 

Prof. Cromwell F. Yarley, F. R. S., and probably 
one of the greatest living electritions of his time, wrote 
Prof. Crookes as follows : "I know of no instance, 
either in the New or Old World, in which any clear- 
headed man who has carefully examined the phenom- 
ena has failed to become a convert to the Spiritualist 
hypothesis. The abuse and ridicule we have had to 
encounter come only from those who have never had 
the courage or the decency to make an investigation 
of it, before denouncing that about which they are en- 
tirely ignorant. In this respect the world seems to 
have made no progress in the last one hundred and 
seventy years." 

Dr. F. L. H. Nichols, F. R. S., author of "Esoteric 
Anthropology," etc., says : "I have in my possession 
direct writings and drawings done under absolute test 
conditions by departed spirits with whose handwriting 
I am as familiar as with my own." 

Prof. James Challis, F. R. S., professor of astron- 
omy and experimental philosophy, Cambridge Uni- 
versity, England, says : "The testimony has been so 
abundant and consentaneous that either the facts must 
be admitted to be such as reported or the possibility of 
certifying facts by human testimony must be given 
up." (Religio Philosophical Journal, Dec. 1, 1900.) 

The above quotations are only a few from the vol- 
uminous writings, lectures and reported statements of 
a few of the many scientists, more of whom it would 
be a pleasure to quote. I would be pleased to refer to 
the good work of the Psychical Research Society of 
England, its former American branch, and other like 
associations, all of which are doing good work ; but 
space forbids, and I must now return to my subject. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 335 

"Who is the better witness, the scientist or the 
medium?" One thing is certain: without the medium 
the scientist could not become a witness at all, because 
he is absolutely dependent upon the medium for all the 
evidence, proof and demonstration of the truth of spirit 
phenomena and of spirit return. Therefore it is a 
clearly demonstrated fact that the testimony of such 
mediums as Mr. Hudson Tuttle, Mr. J. J. Morse, Mrs. 
Cora L. V. Richmond, Rev. Thomas Grimshaw, Dr. 
F. L. H. Willis, Elizabeth Lowe Watson, Mrs. J. H. 
R. Matteson, Airs. Clara Watson, or any of the thous- 
ands of others of that class of mediums regarding the 
question of whether it is the spirits of departed men 
and women who produce the phenomena and transmit 
the messages of Modern Spiritualism, is a million times 
more valuable than all of the fine-spun theories, the 
great literary productions, and scientific (?) essays of 
all those who have never seen a spirit, heard a spirit- 
voice, or felt the spirit-presence. 

To all of those scientists who know a little about the 
phenomena of Spiritualism and are anxious to have 
the world think they are the first ones to discover it, 
and the first ones who have solved the mighty problem 
of a life to come, and who persevere in trying to belittle 
the mediums and their sacred mediumship, we would 
say please bear in mind that you always come first, 
after the mediums. Please to not try to get ahead of 
them, for the cart cannot draw the horse nor the cars 
the locomotive. It were better, much better, to treat 
the mediums as though they were of some importance 
in this matter of demonstrating a future life than to 
utterly ignore them or their opinions, or through ignor- 
ance pronounce honest mediums "frauds." We would 
also advise everyone, and especially professors of 
psychology, not to approach a psychological subject (a 
medium) with minds filled with deception, giving fic- 
titious names, misleading the mediums with falsehood 
and misrepresentation, providing yon are desirous of 
getting the truth in return for your pains. For if yon 



336 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED; 

do not know that by this method you are ruining your 
opportunities to get good results, we Spiritualists, who 
are not all professors of psychology, do know it, and 
we demand that you act as gentlemen when approach- 
ing the sacred altar of spirit communion ; that you do 
not approach a sensitive psychological subject as 
though he were a criminal and then go away and 
brand good mediums as "frauds" just because they 
received the reflection of your own deception practiced 
on them. This advice costs nothing but it would be 
valuable if heeded by some of the highly educated men 
of otherwise scientific attainments. 

No one should get discouraged if he does not get 
satisfaction at once in his investigations. The mediums 
are good people and are accommodating. They are 
devoting their lives to the work, and some have sacri- 
ficed much that its truth might be made known. They 
have sufficient powers behind them to demonstrate a 
future life to all the world, and they are doing it to 
millions. Then give them a chance. To the noble, 
truth-seeking, painstaking, self-sacrificing scientist, we 
bid God-speed. May the angels of heaven bless them 
in their good work as they have blessed me in mine. 
To the others we will say: "Father, forgive them, for 
they know not what they do." 

True science and true Spiritualism go hand in hand. 
May all true mediums and all true scientists study well 
the laws governing mediumship and go on harmon- 
iously receiving and dispensing the beautiful heaven- 
born truths of Modern Spiritualism freely to the sor- 
rowing and needy ones of earth. The truths of Spirit- 
ualism scientifically demonstrated are the true saviours 
of the world ; and, dear mediums, you are their chosen 
standard-bearers for the angels. Continue to live true 
to your trust. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 33? 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



Summary of Our Missionary Work — Great Amount 
of Work Accomplished — Teachings of Modern 
Spiritualism — Application of Its Teachings — 
"Speak Thy Thought" (Poem). 

Summary of Missionary Work. 

Though we were very active in the work of Spirit- 
ualism from the time we learned of its truth, as is 
shown in preceding chapters, more strenuous work 
began in the year 1893, and this has continued until 
the present time, 1908. Our vacations have averaged 
less than thirty days each year, and we have labored 
incessantly for the cause we love. 

We received appointments as missionaries of the 
National Spiritualist Association, without salary, in 
1893, the year in which it was organized, and served in 
that capacity, in connection with our other work of 
serving societies as lecturers and test mediums, hold- 
ing seances, giving private readings, diagnosing dis- 
ease and healing the sick, until October, 1900. Up to 
this time we had organized and caused to be chartered 
with the X. S. A. and with State Spiritualist Associa- 
tions sixty-five societies. We also raised considerable 
money in aid of the general work of the N. S. A., be- 
sides raising some money to aid State Associations and 
local societies. 

At the National Convention held in Cleveland, Ohio, 
in the month of October. 1900, we were appointed mis- 
sionaries-at-large with a salary, and for six years we 
devoted our entire time to the interests of the mission- 
ary work of the National Association, teaching the 
necessity oi united effort among Spiritualists, organ- 
izing local societies, dispensing the gospel of Spirit- 



338 a FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

ualism in its philosophy, and demonstrating' its truth 
through its phenomena, as we traveled far and near up 
and down the land. 

During these six fruitful years, in which our entire 
time was devoted to the missionary work, we traveled 
many thousands of miles, held 1,730 meetings, an 
average of 288 1/^ meetings each year, and organized 
and chartered 139 societies, making a total of 204 
societies organized during the thirteen years of our 
missionary work. Besides this we assisted in the organ- 
ization of the New York State Spiritualist Association 
as has been reported. We also organized the Indiana 
State Spiritualist Association, and the Oklahoma State 
Spiritualist Association. We have done much to 
assist the Morris Pratt Institute, the Spiritualist School 
located at Whitwater, Wisconsin, by securing students 
to attend it, and in raising money to aid in its good 
work. 

The above mentioned meetings were held and socie- 
ties organized in thirty of the different states of the 
Union lying between the eastern coast of Massachus- 
etts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New 
Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, and the 
western coast of Washington, Oregon and California. 

One of the many lessons learned from our mission- 
ary experiences is this : Modern Spiritualism has come 
to stay. Its permanency is assured in the fact that its 
philosophy is natural as it is beautiful, and beautiful 
as it is natural, and that its truth is scientifically demon- 
strated. Spiritualism is the only religion that demon- 
strates its claims. When it is properly and intelligently 
presented the people accept it gladly. 

It would be a great pleasure to us to mention each 
one of the many dear friends who cared for us and 
labored with us in the good work, and to record some 
of the pleasant and happy experiences of the days spent 
in each place ; but if we were to do it there would be 
no room for anv other matter in this book. . 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 339 

We love our friends, and one great gain to us in 
this missionary work is the making of many new and 
dear ones. To each and all of our old and new friends 
and co-workers we send forth a sincere wish for their 
welfare. We hope to meet them again before we are 
called to our spirit home. May heaven's angels bless 
them all. 

Much Work Accomplished. 

We have given innumerable proofs of a future life 
and have taught its new truths to many people during 
these years of active work in the Spiritual vineyard, 
but we will not venture to become so extravagant in 
our statements as was St. John when he referred to 
the great work that Jesus did. There are two of us 
and we have spent twenty-seven years of daily hard 
work in the field, while Jesus only labored from one 
to three years — probably not more than one year, but 
not to exceed three years at most, — according to the 
Bible record. 

In the closing verse of the four "infallible" gospels 
we read : "And there are also many other things which 
Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every 
one, I suppose that even the world itself could not con- 
tain the books that should be written. Amen." John 
xxi., 25.) The question of the reliability of such an 
extravagant writer as the author of the above naturally 
arises with the freethinker and causes him to doubt. 

In speaking of our work I may say : "There are also 
many other things which" we "did" in these twenty- 
seven years, "the which." I am sure, would make a 
great many books that could be written but never will 
be. because records were not made of them at the time, 
and if I had them, and had the inclination, my life is 
too short to accomplish so great a work. I am eon- 
tented and happy in the knowledge that there are tuns 
of thousands of mediums, public and private, in the 
world who are teaching and proving just what such 
books would contain were they published. I shall will- 



3 1:0 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

ingly and confidently leave the matter with them and 
their spirit-helpers. 

Some of the Basic Principles of Our Teachings. 

"If men only understood 
That the heart that sins must sorrow, 
That the hateful mind to-morrow 
Reaps its barren harvest, weeping, 
Starving, resting not, nor sleeping; 
Tenderness would fill their being, 
They would see with Pity seeing, 
If they only understood." 

— Jas. Allen. 

1st. — Man survives the change called death and 
enters the spirit world in the same condition, mentally, 
morally and spiritually, as that in which he is when he 
leaves this world. Death changes him in no way ex- 
cepting physically. And under proper conditions he 
may return and communicate with people of this world. 

The Spirit World Real. 

2d. — The spirit world is a real world composed of 
spirit and matter. Man has a spiritual body composed 
of matter or substance, and, like all other matter of 
the spirit spheres, is more etherial than the matter of 
this world. The elements composing the spiritual body 
being rarified, sublimated, or spiritualized matter or 
substance so refined and its vibrations so quickened 
that our physical eyes cannot discern the spiritual body, 
though it is clearly discerned with the spiritual eyes, 
as clairvoyance abundantly proves. 

Spiritual Laws Natural. 

3d. — The spirit-world is governed by natural law. 
Spiritual laws are natural laws. Cause and effect are 
laws of both this and the spirit-world. There are no 
miracles. All genuine phenomena denominated "mirac- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 341 

ulous" are produced through the action of natural law. 
Nature's laws cannot be set aside, but must be obeyed. 

All Life Continuous. 

4th. — All life, whether of man or the lower animals, 
continues after death, and by the proper observance 
and application of nature's laws people in the spirit- 
world may communicate with people on the mortal 
plane. This truth is certainly proved. 

Rewards and Punishments. 

5th. — We must suffer for our wrong acts, not as a 
punishment therefor, but as a natural consequence. We 
are compensated for our good deeds, not as a premium 
or reward for such acts, but as a natural consequence. 
Cause and effect rule in every realm of life. Good 
deeds carry with them their own reward. Evil deeds 
carry with them evil results. "Be not deceived, God 
is not mocked :. for whatsoever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap." (Gal. vi., 7.) 

There is no forgiveness for sin. If one sins against 
you, you may forgive him ; but when he repents of his 
sin, he will suffer the consequence of that sin, for the 
thought of having committed the wrong will cause pain 
to the truly penitent soul ; therefore, there is no for- 
giveness for sin, but when the one sinning has com- 
pensated for his wrong act to the satisfaction of the 
one sinned against and to the satisfaction of his own 
conscience, then he has done that which relieves him. 
"Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling." 
(Phil, ii., 12.) 

This the Kindergarden of Eternity. 

6th. — Spirit, matter and force operate harmoniously 
together in the spirit-world, as in this world, in the 
great work of evolution and development of spirit. 
That this world is the preparatory stage of the future, 
the kindergarten of eternity. 



3 I 2 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Good and Evil. 

7th. — Good is an eternal principle, and, like truth, 
it is permanently established in the order of things. 

Evil is ephemeral — short lived. When it has served 
its purpose it disappears. It serves a purpose in teach- 
ing mankind, by contrast, the value of good, and when 
the value of good is understood evil will disappear, be- 
cause man will then choose it no more, but will per- 
sistently avoid it. Much evil has already thus been 
laid aside and more will follow as rapidly as man be- 
comes spiritually developed to choose the good. 

When we learn that in doing a wrong to another we 
wrong ourselves a thousand times more, we will avoid 
evil. We may do it from a selfish motive at first, but 
we will learn to love the right and to choose it for its 
own sake. Each one must learn this lesson some time, 
either in this life or in spirit life. No one else can act 
for us in the matter. As a child must learn to do his 
own walking, talking, thinking, etc., so must each man 
or spirit act for himself in this matter of choosing good 
or evil. 

God. 

8th. — Infinite intelligence, or at least an intelligence 
too great for man to comprehend, is manifested in the 
operations of nature throughout the universe, so far as 
our limited vision extends. In this I am not saying 
that there is a personal, anthropomorphic ruler of the 
universe. 

Intelligence is manifested in the operations of this 
vast universe and in all of its phenomena. The cause 
of things must be an intelligent cause. That which 
caused the formation of the human eye must be able 
to see. That which formed the human ear evidently 
operated with a purpose in view. That power which 
gave human beings and the lower animals intelligence 
must itself be intelligent. Therefore, I reason . that 
there is a superior order of intelligence above man's 
intelligence, supreme, and perhaps infinite; therefore I 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 343 

most heartily and gladly believe in ''Infinite Intelli- 
gence." What matters it by which one of the hundred 
names given it by different peoples it may be called? 
Everything is fitted for its sphere, and the sphere of 
each seems narrow and small. Neither men nor worlds 
can get out of their orbits ; they cannot change their 
plane of life until they have fulfilled their mission. 
This belongs to the plan of the universe, the draft of 
which may be in the hands of the Master Mechanic 
thereof. At least it has not yet been given to the com- 
mon workmen. 

Cause of causes ! Soul of things ! 

Majestic Power! Thy music rings 

Through vibrant space where none have trod. 

We know thee not, but call thee God. 

Jesus of Nazareth. 

We cannot accept the posititve statement of the 
Church that Jesus of Nazareth was "Very God," the 
incarnation of the Almighty. We would prefer to be- 
lieve the teachings of St. Peter, who, according to the 
Scripture, said : "Ye men of Israel, hear these words ; 
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you 
by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did, by 
him, in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know." 
(Acts ii., 22.) 

If this passage of the Christians' "infallible scrip- 
ture" uttered by St. Peter is true, then Jesus of Naz- 
areth was not God, but "a man, approved of God, by 
miracles, wonders and signs which God did through 
him" (and not what he as God himself did). It is 
much easier to believe St. Peter in this matter, except- 
ing that God was the author of the phenomena, and 
that they were "miracles," than to believe the Christian 
Church, even though it claims to be the true inter- 
preter of the Scrirptures ; as it in this case contradicts 
St. Peter, who was a disciple, intimate acquaintance 
and co-worker with Jesus. 



34 I \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

We believe and leach that if the Scripture records 
are true, Jesus of Nazareth was an inspired man, en- 
dowed with "spiritual gifts" or spirit mediumship of 
both the physical and mental phases and of a high 
order, instead of being "Very God." The records 
make him out to have been "very" much "a man." 

The Emancipation of Women. 

We believe and teach that if "all men are born free 
and equal," as the Constitution of the United States 
declares, the same principle applies to women, that 
women as well as men should have the right of "self- 
government." 

The present great movement for woman's emanci- 
pation from the abject slavery taught by the Scriptures, 
and which has been upheld and practiced by Christians 
for ages, was born of Modern Spiritualism. I have 
never known an advocate of the truths of Modern 
Spiritualism who was not an ardent advocate of the 
equality of woman with man. There is every reason 
why woman should have the right of self-government 
and not one reason why she should not have it. 

How People Enter Spirit Life. 

10th. — Man enters the spirit-world exactly as he 
leaves this world. A babe on entering spirit life is a 
babe still, but it has infinite possibilities before it. A 
fool is not made wise by death ; but on making the 
change, a new form, the "spiritual body" is his in 
which to develop intellectually and spiritually. He 
will not be so badly cramped in his environment in 
that sphere of life, for he will have a better and more 
perfect brain to use in thinking and in grasping the 
meaning of his surroundings, as well as a better organ- 
ism in which to gain experience and development. In 
this life the idiot cannot think because his brain is not 
in order. 

An uneducated man will not acquire an education 
simply by dying. The only thing that he will learn by 
going through the process is what the experience 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 31:5 

teaches him, If he had not learned the miitiplication 
table previous to his transition, he will not repeat it in 
spirit life until he has learned it there. But on entering 
spirit life he will be endowed with greater power of 
discernment, and will meet infinite opportunities to 
learn there ; though nothing is acquired in spirit life 
without effort excepting our inherited spirit bodies, 
faculties, and the necessary conditions for unfoldment. 
This law is the same in that world as it is in this. 

We take with us to spirit life all that we possess of 
education and ignorance, of evil tendencies and good 
traits, of wisdom and unwise tendencies. We enter 
spirit life with all that we are and all that we possess, 
excepting the physical body and other physical belong- 
ings. In that life we pass for what we are worth, not 
what we or others think we are worth. The simple act 
of dying does not change the man mentally, morally, 
intellectually, or spiritually. He goes to sleep in death 
to awaken in spirit life the same man in every way 
excepting physically, but surrounded with new and 
greatly improved conditions for his progression. 

Evolution in Spirit Life. 

11th. — Progression does not cease at death. The 
laws of evolution continue to be operative in the spirit- 
world. Babes grow to be men and women, and men 
and women advance mentally, morally and spiritually 
in that higher life. But the rapidity of their progress 
depends upon their efforts and their wisdom. 

Harmony is Heaven. 

12th. — Harmony is heaven in every sphere of life. 
He who lives in harmony with himself, with his con- 
science, with his reason, with his surroundings, and 
with nature's laws lives in heaven. Be good and do 
good and yon will be happy and in the enjoyment of 
heaven here and now. This is the only way to live 
life truly and enjoy its many blessings. 



346 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

Forgive your enemies truly and in time you will 
have none. Love all mankind, for all are of one family, 
all are children of one father — God, and one mother — 
Nature. Hold no ill will toward man or spirit. Obey 
the laws of your being and you will profit thereby. Be 
honest and upright in your dealings. Be kind-hearted, 
benevolent and forbearing. Seek the truth always and 
freely accept it wherever found. Speak your honest 
convictions if you speak at all. 

Good Advice Given by Spirits. 

13th. — In our twenty-seven years of almost daily 
communication with the spirits of the departed, with all 
of the messages received through the instrumentality 
of many mediums as well as through our own medium- 
ship, we have never received a single message or 
heard one given that advised anyone to do wrong. 
They always tell us that if we would be happy we 
must be good ; that there is but one royal road to hap- 
piness and that is always reached by making others 
happy. 

Spiritual Science. 

14th. — That great apostle and leader of Modern 
Spiritualism, Andrew Jackson Davis, aptly named its 
teachings ''The Harmonial Philosophy." It is true that 
the spirit friends have given us the grandest philosophy 
the world has ever known. Their teachings, some- 
times called "Spiritual Science," embodies all that is 
true in science and all that is good in religion. It 
embodies all that is known to human beings regarding 
the spirit-world, and has revealed much hitherto un- 
known regarding man and his relations to things in 
this world. Little by little mankind is coming to under- 
stand and apply its teachings. Besides teaching many 
other great truths, Spiritual Science includes the art 
of true healing in all of its aspects, physical, mental 
and spiritual. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 347 

No Soul Eternally Lost. 

15th. — In the spirit-world every poor, unfortunate 
creature of earthly conditions will find friends, oppor- 
tunity, and the greatest incentive to shake off the 
chains that have held him in bondage throughout the 
years of his earthly life. 

Be patient, then, dear heart; life's sorrows and joys, 
pleasures and pain, successes and failures are our 
teachers ; and our greatest mistakes may become our 
best teachers, as our deepest troubles may lead the way 
to our greatest blessings. All will be, must be, for our 
future good. We are creatures of circumstances, of 
environments, and of inheritance ; but good and bad, 
as these conditions always are, they form a trinity that 
influences our lives for ultimate good. 

The Christian Bible. 

Having frequently quoted the Christian Bible, some- 
times for the purpose of showing that modern spirit- 
phenomena are identically the same as those recorded 
in the Bible, and at other times to show its teachings 
as compared with the teachings of modern Spiritual- 
ism, I deem it my duty to explain my views regarding 
it. I do not believe the Bible is an "infallible book," 
written by the finger of God," but I do believe it was 
written by men, some of whom were at times inspired 
by spirits, and at other times were inspired with their 
own selfishness, weakness and wickedness. Having 
been written by more than forty different men, and at 
different periods, extending over fourteen centuries 
of time, and having been imperfectly translated some 
two hundred times and each translation contradicting 
all of the others hundreds and thousands of times ; it 
is not, even after all this revising, "infallibly true." 

Many of the passages record some of the vilest ac- 
tions and wickedest deeds of an ignorant and barbaric 
people, and hundreds of passages are clothed in lan- 
guage unfit to be used in print by intelligent and civil- 
ized people. The Bible needs revision much more 
than interpretation or translation. We also believe and 



3 IS A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

teach that it is absurd and debasing to teach from the 
pulpit or the religious press that the Bible is "God's 
infallible word, and all that is needed for man's faith 
and practice," and still worse to teach little Sabbath- 
school children this false doctrine. The church has 
impaired its own usefulness and made more infidels 
than any other institution on earth by so doing, and 
by trying to enforce the doctrine of "eternal punish- 
ment" and its edict of "believe or be damned." 

We also believe and teach that the Bible contains 
many beautiful precepts, many uplifting sentiments 
and helpful truths, that it contains records of many 
spirit-manifestations, spirit-materializations and spirit- 
communications and other spirit phenomena similar to 
those that transpire among Spiritualists today. Mod- 
ern Spiritualism demonstrates the possibility of the 
truth of many of these phenomena recorded in the 
Bible. 

The Christian Bible records hundreds of cases of 
clairvoyance, clairaudience, levitation, spirit writing, 
visions, prophecy, spirit control, trance, spirit-mater- 
ialization, etc., all of which are produced in Modern 
Spiritualism, thus proving the possibility and proba- 
bility of the truth of these scripture records. 

For these and many other reasons I believe the Bible 
contains much truth, but that it also contains many 
errors. We were once told that the Bible was either 
all true or all false, and that we must accept it all or 
reject it all, but we positively refuse to do so. We re- 
solved a long time ago to accept what appealed to our 
reason and good sense as true and reject that which 
appeared to be impossible and false. Jesus of Naz- 
areth did not accept all of the Bible as infallibly true, 
he denied portions of the "holy scripture." If T fol- 
low his example I may do the same. 

According to the Scripture Moses says: "And if 
any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life." 

"Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot 
for foot." (Exodus xxi, 23-24.) 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 319 

"And if a man cause a blemish ; as he hath done, so 
shall it be done to him." 

"Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; 
as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be 
done to him again." 

"And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it, and 
he that killeth a man. he shall be put to death." (See 
Leviticus xxiv, 19, 20, 21.) 

Jesus says : "Ye have heard it said, an eye for an 
eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, that ye 
resist not evil : but whosoever shall smite thee on the 
right cheek, turn to him the other also." "Ye have 
heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bor and hate thine enemy ; but I say unto you, love 
your enemies : bless them that curse you, do good to 
them that hate you and pray for them which despite- 
fully use you and persecute you." 

Jesus in this case as in others was an infidel. He 
did not believe the Bible according to Moses. I like 
the teaching's of Jesus, the great free-thinker, medium 
and Spiritualist of his day, better than the teachings 
of Moses, and shall continue to preach and teach his 
doctrine as stated above in preference to that of Moses, 
even though I do it at the hazard of being called an 
infidel. 

Speak Thy Thought. 

"Speak thy thought if thou believ'st it, 
Let it jostle whom it may. 
E'en although the unwise scorn it, 
Or the obstinate gainsay. 
Every reed that grows tomorrow 
Lies beneath the clod today." 

"If our sires, the noble hearted 

Pioneers of things to come. 
Had like some, been weak and timid. 

Traitors to themselves, and dumb. 
Where would be our present knowledge? 

Where the hoped millennium." 



350 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



The Demonstration of a Future Life of Supreme Im- 
portance — When the Teachings of Modern Spir- 
itualism Are Put in Practice — The Great School 
of Modern Spiritualism — I Have Never Been a 
Martyr — The Sadness of Parting at Death and 
the Joy of Meeting Again — Our Spirit Teachers 
and Co-laborers — The Closing Word. 

The Demonstration of a Future Life of Supreme 
Importance. 

There are many things that are of great importance 
to the people of this world, but nothing is of such 
supreme importance to each human being as is the 
question of a life after death. 'To be or not to be," 
to continue to live after the change called death, or to 
be annihilated, is the question of all questions, and has 
been such throughout all the ages in which man has 
existed as a thinking being. If there were no future 
life for the race, what would be the significance of all 
the other questions now interesting mankind? They 
would be of no importance whatever, because life 
would have no purpose. 

The question of a life after death is a personal ques- 
tion, and is certainly one of personal interest to every 
human being. It is not a question to be settled by one 
man for another ; or by one class of men for another 
class of men. It is a question that each one must set- 
tle for himself, if it is settled at all. 

We all must pass away from this earth ; this we 
know. We lay away the dear forms of our darlings 
in the cold and dreaded grave, while we suffer the 
agony of soul too deep, too terrible, for expression. 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 351 

The prayers of our anguished hearts are for light, for 
information, for knowledge regarding their continued 
existence. Doubts will arise. Questions will present 
themselves. We ask in sorrow these questions : Do 
our loved ones continue to live? If so what is their 
condition of life? Where are they located? Shall we 
meet them again? What are their occupations? Are 
they with other loved ones ? Are they fully conscious ? 
And above all, are they happy? 

Oh ! the yearnings to know ; the grief caused by the 
separation; the unrelenting fear; the unbearable doubt, 
that surges and stirs our whole being! The great 
Cause that brought us into existence could not look 
upon one poor child of earth who is suffering this un- 
merited and unbearable torture, this mental hell, and 
remain in silence and complacency if He, She, or It, 
possessed the sympathy and tenderness of a poor weak 
human parent. Therefore, God or Nature or both, 
have responded to this human "wail of woe" and have 
sent the angel messengers of modern Spiritualism to 
answer the prayers of their grief-stricken children. 
''The powers that be" have evolved and developed 
man's reasoning powers, and spiritual faculties to com- 
prehend, appreciate and assimilate this glorious bene- 
faction. 

All of these questions of the sorrowing and many 
more fully as interesting and necessary to our happi- 
ness, are answered in modern Spiritualism, and an- 
swered to the satisfaction of all who approach the sac- 
red altar of mediumship in the right spirit. O, angels 
of light and love ! help us to understand and appreciate 
these blessed manifestations of your love for the chil- 
dren of earth. The facts, tests, and proofs, of spirit 
return recorded in the preceding chapters together 
with the hundreds of thousands of others of a like 
nature that are being received from the spirit world 
every year throughout the civilized world, constitute 
the authority for the title of this book "A Future Life 
Demonstrated." In many cases recorded here, one 



353 \ FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

communication or message alone proves a future life 
for human beings. 

Modern Spiritualism has demonstrated and is con- 
stantly demonstrating- a future life. Since it is a dem- 
onstrated fact, what does it signify? I will answer: 
It signifies that mankind is now in possession of the 
most stupendous fact, the most helpful, elevating, soul 
inspiring and important truth known to the human 
race, and it is made clear and comprehensive to all hon- 
est, competent, inquirers. To modern Spiritualism 
alone belongs the credit ; therefore it should have a 
fair chance to prove its truth and demonstrate its 
claims to all people of the world. More particularly 
so, because the proving of its truth is a matter of such 
great concern to every human being. In our wide 
experience we have known many people who have be- 
come convinced of the truth of modern Spiritualism, 
but we have never known a single person who investi- 
gated it honestly, conscientiously, prayerfully and 
thoroughly who did not become convinced of its truth. 

When modern Spiritualism entered the world spir- 
itual famine and pestilence were in every land. The 
people were starving spiritually between the blighting 
famine of materialism and the deadly pestilence of old 
theology. Theological pestilence with its unreasonable 
methods and terrible doctrinal teachings was driving 
the wisest as well as many of the unwise away from 
the church, away from religion and into the famishing 
doctrine of materialism. Then, when Spiritualism 
came to save mankind and to save the cause of true 
religion, old theology and materialism, while fighting- 
each other, both waged a fierce warfare against mod- 
ern Spiritualism, and though surrounded by the nu- 
merous hosts of both in the great battle, Spiritualism 
has fought its way to freedom and won the greatest 
victory over both. 

Paul says: "By the mouth of two or three wit- 
nesses every word shall be established." (2 Cor. 
Chap xiii, 1st verse.) Jesus says the same thing. (See 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 353 

Matt, xviii, 16.) If their statements are correct and 
may be adopted by us as a rule by which to be guided, 
then we have certainly won our case, for we have 
brought forward many witnesses from both sides of 
life, all of whom have testified to the truth of spirit 
return and brought the absolute proof of a future life. 
If human testimony can be relied upon at all, then any 
honest, intelligent jury must grant a verdict in our 
favor. Thus we win the case. 

Dear reader, if you had received for yourself all of 
the evidence that I have recorded in this work, that is, 
if the spirits had come to you and you had seen, heard 
and felt them, and proved their presence to others by 
giving their messages, tests, etc., as frequently and 
continually as they have to me, would you not be able 
to say without prejudice or egotism that you had 
proved the truth of a future life, and spirit return? I 
know you would ; but what I have recorded here is a 
very small portion of the proof that has come to me. 
I have not recorded one proof in thousands that I have 
received, and yet in many cases a single reading has 
positively demonstrated the truth of a life after death. 
After all of these experiences if I do not know that 
the spirits of our loved ones live and communicate with 
us, then what do I know ? Therefore, in summing up 
the case I must make the claim for which this work 
stands, namely : that in modern Spiritualism "A Future 
Life is Demonstrated." 

Mrs. Sprague and I are still preaching and teaching 
the truths of the Harmonial Philosophy and demons- 
trating its claims. We hope to be able to continue the 
good work until the last day of our earthly lives, and 
trust we may remain upon this plain of life many 
years, keeping our health and continuing to receive the 
assistance of our dear spirit friends to the continued 
benefit of ourselves and mankind. 



354 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

When the Teachings of Modern Spiritualism Are 
Put in Practice. 

First — There will be no small children wearing their 
lives away working long days and longer nights in the 
factories. 

Second — No young men will be murdered, young 
children orphaned, or wives widowed by war, cruel 
war. 

Third — American women will not be obliged to 
stand back in their helplessness while an un-Ameri- 
canized foreigner, or a native born Negro casts a bal- 
lot granting a franchise to monopoly that will rob her 
of her inherited rights, and place in bond for half a 
century her unborn children. 

Fourth — Women will become equal partners in 
every sphere of life with men. 

Fifth — All children may become fresh air children 
receiving the blessings nature has in store for them. 

Sixth — Beggars will disappear from our streets. 
Almshouses and prisons will be unknown. Comfort- 
able homes will be the inheritance of all who are un- 
fortunate. 

Seventh — Divorce courts will disappear, for hus- 
band and wife will have put away false pride and 
learned to ask forgiveness of each other for their faults 
and failings. 

The Great School of Modern Spiritualism. 

Modern Spiritualism is a great University of Learn- 
ing. It has millions of professors, teachers and stu- 
dents, each one of whom is laboring in his or her own 
special department. They are found in every walk of 
life, and are inhabitants of both this world and the 
spirit spheres. Many of them are scientists, philoso- 
phers, poets, prophets, seers and saints, all in different 
degrees of development and filling different places in 
life. 

Mediums are amanuenses for the teachers and stu- 
dents from spirit life. Many men and women in the 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 35o 

mortal form are learning from spirits, while many 
spirits who passed to spirit life without an earthly ex- 
perience are learning from those who dwell in this life, 
one helping and blessing the other. 

Its Curriculum — The study of Spiritual Science, 
which is the basis of all occult phenomena, physical, 
mental and spiritual, solves many problems of the phi- 
losophy of life, which includes the philosophy of both 
this life and of life in the spirit world. 

Its Home — The universe, visible and invisible is full 
of its presence. 

Its Class Rooms — The thousands of seance rooms, 
lecture halls, psychic classes, etc., located in all 
parts of the world, where its teachers and students, 
visible and invisible, assemble to study, learn, and at 
the same time disseminate its great truths, constitute 
its working department. 

Its School Term — The entire past, the grand pres- 
ent and the glorious future united make one unbroken 
term. 

Its Temple — This is not of brick or stone and mor- 
tar. The over-arching heavens is its dome and the 
dear old earth its foundation. Within this magnifi- 
cent structure mortals and spirits become students of 
the philosophy of life in its various phases and mani- 
festations, visible and invisible, and many hidden 
things are revealed. 

The students of this school wander not alone into 
the realm of the unknown in search of knowledge ; but 
they are accompanied by spirit teachers who gladly 
contribute their assistance in the search after truth. 
The knowledge procured in this great school of mod- 
ern Spiritualism is obtainable from no other source on 
earth. 

If Spiritualism were not true, then there would be 
no proof of a life beyond the grave. All religious rec- 
ords would become mythical untruths, and all churches 
of whatsoever religion would become monuments of 
folly. But the Great School of Modern Spiritualism 



356 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

teaches and demonstrates the truth of a future life. 
This fact naturally furnishes the basis of truth upon 
which the Christian and all other religions are 
founded ; as it proves the possibility of the facts of 
spirit communion and spirit manifestations, as recorded 
in all Bibles and handed down through ancient tradi- 
tions. However, Modern Spiritualism does not stop 
there. It goes on in its work delivering to mankind 
the greatest science, philosophy and religion, based 
upon demonstrated facts and natural phenomena that 
this world has ever known. It interprets the many 
bibles of the world correctly, pointing out the errors 
and making clear the truths contained within them. 
It proves that spirit phenomena, both of ancient and 
modern times, were and are natural phenomena, and 
produced through natural law ; greatest of all, it proves 
that they are produced by the spirits of departed loved 
ones who have survived the change called death and 
who use this means to inform us of that fact, as well 
as to enlighten us regarding the truths that their ex- 
perience in spirit life has brought to them. 

The Great School of Modern Spiritualism has 
opened the book of life at its first page, and mankind 
are reading its preface or fore-word. Almost infinite 
possibilities lie before us in its study. Praise be to the 
spirit world for bringing to earth this greatest blessing. 

I Have Never Been a Martyr. 

I have never been a martyr to Spiritualism. We 
sometimes hear people tell of their great sacrifices for 
the cause. I have never made a single sacrifice for my 
religion. If some friend turned against me because I 
was a Spiritualist, I always felt to pity him and justly 
attributed it to his ignorance of the subject. If some- 
one scoffed at my belief, I extended my sympathy to 
him because of his ignorance. I sacrificed nothing in 
the matter. We have always been ready to meet the 
worthy opponents of Spiritualism and discuss its mer- 
its or demerits candidly ; but if some churchman ac- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 357 

cused our innocent mediums of wrong-doing, or of 
fraud, or pronounced Spirit phenomena all fraud, we 
faced them with facts to disprove it ; and when the 
firing became too hot we often returned a few shots, 
placing our opponents on the defensive, by referring to 
some of the acts of the mediums, prophets and seers of 
the Bible, as well of some of the church leaders of the 
present time, proving that all is not the sweetest in- 
spiration that is recorded in the "sacred" book; also 
that even modern ministers and Christian leaders are 
not all saints. I have made no sacrifices on account of 
this opposition. Neither have I suffered in the least 
on account of it ; but I have enjoyed it all greatly. 
We are fighting a good fight that the good and the 
true may prevail, and shall continue until the end ; 
not as a martyr, but as one who has been blessed be- 
yond measure. 

The Sadness of Parting and the Joy of Meeting 
Again. 

In the hey-day of life, while enjoying health and 
other good things we do not contemplate so much the 
future life, but when we are suddenly reminded, as 
we are brought face to face with death, that this life is 
short, that it is soon to be relinquished, we then long 
to know what is beyond the grave. Our dear old 
father lays down life's burdens and for a moment the 
mad rush for material things with us is checked. Then 
our dear cherished mother bids adieu to the cares and 
trials of this life, and we are again called to halt in the 
pursuit of the wealth and pleasures of the world, and 
are led to ask the question — asked by every intelligent 
adult man, and woman — that Job asked in the long 
ago: "If a man die shall he live again?" 

As we close down the eyelids of our dear departed 
mother, wife, child, or friend, how our spirit goes out 
in quest of the ones we love. We ask in spirit and in 
silent prayer if not in words : Where, O where ! has 
my darling gone? After the dear form is laid in the 



358 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

bosom of mother earth and the stereotyped words are 
said : "Dust to dust. Ashes to ashes,'' we return to 
our lonely and desolate home. Oh, how lonely are 
the slowly passing hours ! The silence, so deep, so 
oppressive! The sweet voice, the gentle step is heard 
no more. The vacant chair reminds us that our darl- 
ing is gone. Gone! Gone! Gone where? Oh! 
where has our darling gone? Where is she tonight? 
Does she exist? If so, is it well with her? Thus one 
question after another arises, but no answer comes. 
No word from the departed loved one. And then this 
nerve racking question goes straight to our breaking 
heart: "IS THIS THE END? OH! GOD PITY 
ME! OH! MAY I KNOW IF THIS IS THE 
END?'' Such is the common experience of those who 
dwell on the earthly plane. 

The great giver of life has implanted within the 
human breast that beautiful attribute called hope. 
Blessed be hope ! That Great Power has given us 
faith. Beautiful faith ! These two may have blended 
into belief; it is blessed to believe; and these three are 
rich in blessings, for they often save from the asylum, 
preventing the cruel stroke, the shattered nerve and 
the pain of despair. 

Many have, under these circumstances, reasoned 
that a good Creator could not be so cruel as to cause 
this life to end all. And finally, after summoning all 
of their fortitude to support this hope, faith and belief, 
a decision is reached, and a favorable one. And thus 
it may rest until another of life's tragedies is enacted, 
another darling leaves his accustomed place, and again 
we pass through the Gethsemane as before. 

Our beautiful Spiritualism has opened the way to 
the spirit spheres. The angels have been calling us 
for ages, at last we have heard their call, and commu- 
nication has been permanently established between the 
two worlds and thus to our great surprise we learn 
of the beauty of death. We note the entrance of our 
darlings into spirit life. We see them as they assume 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 359 

the spirit-forms beautiful to behold. We sense their 
joy as they are freed from the worn-out body and its 
terrible pain. We witness the gathering of the angels 
around the bed of transition, and discern the glad wel- 
come our darling ones receive at their hands as they 
enter spirit-life. Father, mother, sister, brother, chil- 
dren, husband or wife, near and dear friends, as well 
as many almost forgotten are there to greet and wel- 
come our loved ones as they make the happy transi- 
tion. 

And thus through the practice of modern Spiritual- 
ism these arisen loved ones return to tell us of the 
glory and beauty of spirit life; assuring us that they 
are with their darlings all, in a better and more beau- 
tiful world than this; that they are free from pain, 
have unfolded faculties of the human soul which were 
not known in this world, and that they are happy. O, 
so happy ! Having lived a good life here they are per- 
fectly happy, only for our grieving. Words cannot 
express the ecstatic condition of the good and the true 
who have lived out a full and noble life on earth, who 
love and are beloved in the spirit realms. Contrasted 
with old beliefs, what blessings are added to our lives 
when knowledge takes the place of belief. 

Our Spirit Teachers and Co-laborers. 

In this work I have not mentioned all of those who 
constitute our spirit-band. There are others whose 
names we know, but have not given ; and still others 
whose real names have never been given to us ; though 
they have explained the reasons why, and have given us 
names by which to designate them from the others. 

Our spirit band is composed of noble and true souls, 
who have never, to our knowledge, misrepresented 
anything in all of the years of our work together. 
They have made many prophecies and many promises, 
some of which seemed impossible of fulfillment, cov- 
ering more than a quarter of a century of time, many 
of them pertaining to our own daily lives, and the 



360 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

lives of the other members of our families, some of 
which were made regarding our health, our develop- 
ment, our labors, our successes and failures, our trav- 
els, etc., and every promise and every prophesy has 
been literally fulfilled. 

Spirit E. V. Wilson, who for thirty years was an 
active man and mighty power in the movement of 
modern Spiritualism in its earlier years*, having been 
one of the foremost speakers and best and most con- 
vincing platform test mediums, has been the faithful 
leader of our spirit band. 

Nearly twenty-seven years have passed since Mr. 
Wilson — with the universal consent of our spirit-help- 
ers and of ourselves — took charge of our development 
and our work, and his record for honesty, trustworth- 
iness, clear vision and wise counsel, stands today as 
proof of the value of spirit communion. Our neigh- 
bors, our children and ourselves ; in fact all who have 
come in close contact with this noble soul, this gentle 
yet fearless spirit, have learned to love him. We love 
him with all our hearts. We are proud of him and 
are indeed thankful for his close companionship. His 
life is knitted so closely into mine that the thought of 
separation would be to me almost unbearable. He 
has been and still is my constant advisor, my protec- 
tor, my inspirer and teacher. My profound respect 
and great love for him will abide with me until I shall 
clasp his hand and receive his warm welcome and 
spirit-blessing when I become a freed spirit and we 
meet in Summer-Land. 

Every one of the spirit-friends composing our noble 
band are equally as good and true. They are not 
arbitrary controls. They are our companions, our 
teachers and our helpers ; each one acting in his own 
sphere of labor. The Indians and doctors of our band 
look after our health. Under the influence of some of 
them we diagnose disease ; others heal the sick ; still 
others improvise and preach through our mediumship, 
etc. Together they constitute an advisory board, act- 



A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 361 

ing with us in planning and carrying out the work. 
United we form an association. It may be said that 
we in the mortal are acting as their agents in carrying 
out the wishes of the association. 

We love them all dearly and highly appreciate the 
great work they are doing. What a joyful meeting it 
will be when we shall meet them all in that better 
world. Mediums are blessed above all people. The 
companionship of those in spirit-life whom we tenderly 
love is of more value than words can portray. 

The Closing Word. 

The motives that prompted us to publish the facts 
and experiences recorded in this book are various. 
We hope it may be of service to mankind and that the 
author's experiences may encourage others in the work 
of the advancement of Modern Spiritualism. We 
trust it may prove useful and helpful to some at least 
who are unacquainted with the fact of Spirit commu- 
nion, by encouraging them to investigate the great 
truths it presents, thus entering into a greater, better 
and happier life of earth, while enjoying sweet com- 
munion with their own loved ones from Summer-Land. 
It is also our wish that it may stimulate, in a measure, 
at least, some of those who do know the truth, to con- 
tinue their efforts for its advancement; for upon them 
rests the great responsibility of bringing the people of 
this world into communication with the dear ones gone 
before. A great responsibility surely. And further- 
more we trust that the author's experiences herein re- 
corded may prove encouraging to other mediums, be- 
ginners in particular, encouraging them to persevere 
in their development, and to remain faithful and true 
to themselves, true to the cause they espouse, and true 
to their spirit-teachers and helpers. 

Dear mediums one and all ; try to appreciate your 
heaven-born faculties. Be true to the promptings of 
your own conscience. Stand firm to your highest con- 
victions of right. Let truth, which is the savior of 



362 A FUTURE LIFE DEMONSTRATED. 

mankind lead you continually, and never lose sight of 
the fact that you are blessed above all others, for you 
have the companionship of angels ; that the spirit world 
is your guiding star, your bulwark and your protec- 
tion, and that your mission is the holiest one allotted 
to men on the mortal plane. Trust your sainted spirit 
guardians, live lives worthy of their presence, ever 
praying for the best gifts, that you may through their 
influence be of great assistance to mankind. Heaven 
bless our mediums ! 

Kind reader, it is my sincere wish that you may ac- 
cept this work in the spirit in which it is written. It 
is the simple expression of a plain, sincere and truth- 
loving man, one who has experienced the joys and sor- 
rows of life the same as other men ; but one who has 
been blessed and made happy above most men by the 
knowledge he has obtained of a "Future Life Demon- 
strated." His wish to be of assistance to others that 
they too may receive and enjoy the same unspeakable 
blessings, is the real motive that inspired the writing 
of this book. May the angels of heaven come to all 
who seek their presence. May they bring to each one 
the many blessings they have brought to me, is my 
dearest wish, my heartfelt prayer, my benediction. 



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